Paul Ryburn's Journal

Final reminder: 50% off gift card sale at the Majestic Grille tomorrow. Buy gift cards in increments of $50 for $25. Sale is from 8 AM until they run out, and you must buy in person. There are some restrictions – can’t redeem until after January 2, can’t be used for alcohol or gratuity – but the cards are still a fantastic deal.

In case you haven’t already heard, Conference USA 2.0, er, I mean the Big East, will announce today the addition of Tulane (all sports) and ECU (just football).

A bomb threat was called in for three Downtown buildings this morning. Two of the buildings were evacuated and searches conducted at all three. Nothing was found.

Awesome blog post today by Eric Mathews of LaunchMemphis. Let’s say that you have an idea for a killer mobile phone app or web app, but you aren’t a techie. So you need to partner with a developer. You approach several developers, lay out your pitch, and one after the other they tell you, “No thanks, not interested.” This post explains why. As a techie/developer who has been approached with these kinds of startup projects before, I can tell you that Eric NAILED it in his post, and he will tell you what you need to do differently. By the way, did you know that LaunchMemphis has FREE office hours for people who have an idea for a startup business and need help getting it off the ground?

All right, short post today because I need the rest of my lunch break to run a couple of errands. I’ll be out somewhere tonight, exactly where TBD.

I’ve been hearing good stuff on Twitter about a really good blog called Confessions of a Volunteer, but I hadn’t had time to check it out. Today I did while eating a Frosty for lunch, and it’s really good. It’s written by a woman who is volunteering at 30 different Memphis nonprofits and charities, and writing about her experiences. It really introduces the reader to the rich depth of volunteer opportunities in our city. If you have been thinking about volunteering but you’re not sure where you’d like to pitch in, Confessions of a Volunteer will give you plenty of ideas.

There’s a Groupon available this week to see the Harlem Globetrotters on Saturday, January 12 at 7 PM. There are two options, for $31 and for $50. Go here to get the deal.

Running the Memphis Marathon Saturday? Here is a list of restaurants serving Friday evening carb-up specials to runners.

Central BBQ has announced that they are extending the $10 rib special until Christmas at the Downtown location.

If you’ve seen me around Downtown this month, you may have seen my two new beautiful Pink Pig fleece jackets from Shelton Clothiers. Based on a Facebook post I saw today, it looks like they’ve added some new colors. Current color selection includes cream, charcoal, red, and olive green. Tom Shelton has pointed out to me several times that the red ones could be considered Razorback red. They’re $79.50 each and Shelton has a buy one, get one half off special until the end of November. The fleeces are medium-weight and will keep you warm down to about 45 degrees.

Bardog Tavern is reviving its weekly Wednesday poker night. They have ordered 14-gram denominated chips and new double-indexed Copag cards. Start time is 7 PM in the Underdog room.

If you don’t want to wait until Wednesday to play poker, Muruako hosts a game tonight at the Silly Goose, 8:30 PM.

Going to heat up a slice of Aldo’s pizza then head out to the bars. Undecided whether I’ll play poker.

Lansky Bros. is having a Cyber Monday sale on their website today: $50 off any order over $150. You have to purchase via the website; no phone orders allowed. Use code CYBERMONDAY when you check out. Sale ends at midnight tonight.

The event flyer for Reindeer Games, Saturday, December 15 in Court Square, has been posted. Here’s a copy of it.

Per NBA requirements, the FedExForum will start hand-wanding all guests for security purposes before 50% of all Grizzlies games through the All-Star Break, and 100% of games after that. This will slow down lines to get in, so if you attend a game please plan on arriving a few minutes early. All three games this week (tonight vs. Cleveland, Wednesday vs. Toronto, Friday vs. Detroit) will use the wanding.

Here’s a look at why I was 45 minutes late to work this morning. It’s not a good thing when you pass the scene of an accident and see that the police have laid a tarp over a car’s windows. That’s a sure sign there’s a dead body inside. I got past the wreck about 8:35 and by 11 they still had not cleared it.

All right, that’s the news, now let’s recap the latter half of the long Thanksgiving weekend. Saturday I was hanging out at the Flying Saucer when several people on adult-sized Big Wheels came in.

They had been on Beale Street for the second annual Big Wheel Race, a fundraiser for the Salvation Army’s Angel Tree foundation. WMC-TV has a photo gallery of the race. They told me it costs about $600 to build a Big Wheel fit for adults.

On Sunday I snapped this photo at the Silly Goose:

A suburbanite (center) explained to Buddha and Clay how much fun she has at Applebee’s, Chili’s, O’Charley’s, Home Depot, and TGI Friday’s. Apparently we’re missing out on a lot by not living in Olive Branch.

It’s too bad the suburbanite wasn’t at the Flying Saucer on Saturday. A game token was found for one of her favorite hangouts, Chuck E. Cheese.

Before I could text the suburbanite and ask if she wanted the token, Tiffany claimed it.

It’s not hard to imagine Tiffany having a good ol’ time in Chuck E. Cheese’s game room.

Sunday after stops at Blind Bear, the Goose, and the Saucer, it was time to think about eating. I really didn’t feel like staying out longer, so I ordered a pizza to go from Aldo’s Pizza Pies.

Instead of ordering one of the named pies on Aldo’s menu, I decided to go with the create-your-own option. I got an 18″ pizza with extra cheese, sausage, black olives, and mushrooms. As the recently-deceased Mr. Food would say, “Oooohhh it’s so good.” I was very happy with my creation. I ate three slices, and put the rest in the refrigerator for tonight and tomorrow. Considering I get three meals out of it, Aldo’s pizza really isn’t any more expensive than eating out elsewhere Downtown.

Plans for tonight: I’m going to keep with my habit of avoiding the Flying Saucer until after the Grizzlies game starts, since it tends to get crowded with people pre-gaming there. I’ll go to whichever of Blind Bear, Silly Goose, or Bardog looks best on Foursquare/Facebook at the time, then will migrate to the Saucer’s Pint Nite at 7. May be a second news post after work, so check back.

Friday after Thanksgiving is one of the biggest sports days of the year. And let me tell you, between Memphis Tigers basketball and Arkansas Razorbacks football, I would have been happy to tune all the TVs in the bar to the Weather Channel.

Actually, I didn’t watch the Tigers game, because if you want to get on a TV channel that most bars carry, it helps if you win games. I heard all about it on Twitter though. It reminds me of a story. A few days after our new CEO at work arrived last November, he held a company-wide meeting. He told us about the time he spent in the athletic department at UC Berkeley, working with the rowing team. “When we had one or two superstars who were great, we’d never win championships. However, when we had a team full of very good but not great players, and they all worked together in rhythm, we’d win.” That’s the problem with the Tigers. We have a team full of superstars who lose because they don’t work as a team.

It reminds me of the Tiger teams of the mid-90s. What I am about to say is nearly sacrilege in this town, but I was never a huge fan of Larry Finch as a coach. I thought he did an incredible job recruiting and a poor job getting the best out of the players he recruited. (Sound familiar?) Year after year I’d watch as Nolan Richardson would take an Arkansas team with far less raw talent deep into the NCAA tournament, whereas Memphis would be early-outs if not relegated to the NIT. Coach Richardson knew how to maximize what he had.

But wait a minute… didn’t we have a team full of superstars when Calipari was here? What’s the difference? I think Calipari knew how to communicate to his players that this is a business. All five of the current Tiger starters, plus Antonio and Shaq and maybe one or two more, are talented enough to make some money playing pro ball after college. I’m not saying they’ll all get to the NBA, but they’re all good enough to get contracts in Europe or China or D-League. Cal would tell them, look, you put your ego aside and do what I say and I will show you how to maximize your future earning potential.

On the off-chance that Coach Pastner reads this blog, two pieces of unsolicited advice from someone who knows little about basketball:

1) Stop using the all-Memphis starting lineup. Yeah I know it’s a feel-good thing for the city, but it makes them want to show off for their homies. From the games I’ve watched on TV, the mood is different when Antonio Barton (from Baltimore) or Shaq Goodwin (from Atlanta) subs in. It’s not that they don’t have fun – I love the big smile on Shaq’s face when he’s playing – but they look for their teammates more. Get that energy going from the start.

2) If you choose not to cuss at your players, that’s all good. That’s your style and you shouldn’t feel like you have to change it. But, one suggestion: Stop referring to your players as “young men.” It sounds like you think they’re all Eagle Scouts, or aspire for them to be. Eagle Scouts don’t win NCAA championships.

So there you have it. I’m sure JP was just waiting to hear from a blogger who hasn’t touched a basketball since the 1980s, and who dedicates a 41-day-long month to tube tops, to tell him what to do with his team.

Congrats, by the way, to the Memphis Grizzlies on returning to the top of the Western Conference with a win over the L.A. Lakers last night at FedExForum. I wonder if Coach Hollins ever refers to his team as “young men.”

All right, enough of that. Let’s get on to the news.

It’s Blues Saturday Night at the Center for Southern Folklore. At 8 PM Billy Gibson will get things started with his classic blues sound. At 9:45 fife player Sharde Thomas takes the stage. She’s the granddaughter of the legendary Othar Turner. Tickets are $7 in advance or $10 at the door.

Around the corner, Memphis jam band FreeWorld takes the stage at 9:30 tonight. FreeWorld recently earned their note on the Beale Street walk of fame after 25 years of hard work. Shows at the Saucer wrap up about 1 so you easily have time to catch the entire Center for Southern Folklore show and then FreeWorld’s second and third sets. I’d say that’s about as good as a Memphis Music 101 as you can hope to get Downtown on a Saturday night. There’s no cover for FreeWorld.

Over at the Orpheum, there’s the All-Star Comedy Jam. It’s hosted by Gary Owen, with “The Gangsta of Comedy” Capone, “The Comedians’ Comedian” Tony Roberts, and “The African King of Comedy” Michael Blackson. Spinderella is the featured DJ. More info on this show here.

Back to the Grizzlies for a minute… huge respect points to part-owner Justin Timberlake for dancing along with the Grizzlies Grannies and Grandpas last night. I’m a huge fan of the over-50 dance team that performs during game breaks.

All right, time to jump in the shower. Going to hit Panda Manda’s bar at 11 then head down the street to do some more tutoring about trapezoids, rhombuses and parallelograms. Plans for tonight TBD.

Thanksgiving weekend and not much is going on. I’ll do the best I can but this post won’t be a long one.

RedRover Sales & Marketing, one of Downtown Memphis’ best companies, has a Public Relations Account Executive position open. The Memphis office is located at 415 S. Front, so one of the perks of the job is that you’d be able to walk to Gus’s for lunch.

There will be a “Do Good with Food” party Tuesday night, November 27 from 6 to 8 PM at 514 S. Main. The party will benefit the Mid-South Food Bank. They are asking attendees to bring non-perishable proteins.

On Friday, November 30 there will be an Unveil South Main party at Jack Robinson Gallery, 44 Huling, from 5 to 7 PM. Twenty artists have been selected to have their work on display at South Main restaurants and retailers from November 30 to December 19. The party at Jack Robinson Gallery will honor all the selected artists, then from 7 to 9 there will be parties for the individual artists at their respective exhibit locations. Learn more about the artists here.

Tigers game last night was painful to watch. My suggestion would be to start Antonio Barton in place of Joe, and Shaq Goodwin in place of Ferrakohn Hall. Or if you want to start someone who has been around and worked hard enough, long enough to earn a starting spot, D.J. Stephens in place of Ferrakohn Hall. And tell all the guards to stop jacking up so many threes and get the ball inside to the bigs more. Really, though, I’m not sure if any of that will help. On our first possession, when VCU’s defense was all over the Tigers and they couldn’t respond, I was pretty sure we were going to lose.

If you want to see winning basketball, there’s this team called the Grizzlies who play at the FedExForum tonight. They play the L.A. Lakers.

It’s Black Friday. I hope you slept until 10 AM, and now you’re getting up to go shop at a locally-owned merchant. I have already got the majority of my Christmas shopping done and I did it in less than a five-minute walk from my front door. Right now, I’m headed out to do some ACT math tutoring while drinking beer.

 

Nothing like spending Thanksgiving with friends. Today I biked over to Mud Island and met about 9 friends for Thanksgiving dinner.

My friend Bicycle Bobby fried a turkey. We also had ham, mashed potatoes, dressing, green bean casserole, potatoes au gratin, broccoli casserole, biscuits, salad, asparagus, and about 5 or 6 other dishes I’m forgetting. This was my plate:

It must have taken me 45 minutes to get through it. All of it delicious, but I think the mashed potatoes were the overall winner. I caught a lucky break and caught a ride back to the Downtown core with my bike in the back of a friend’s truck, so I didn’t have to deal with crossing the steep A.W. Willis Ave. bridge on a full stomach. Normally I get tired of seeing “I’m thankful for _____” posts all over Facebook and Twitter around the holiday, but I truly am thankful to have such a great group of friends.

Another good thing about Thanksgiving is that I get to see out-of-towners who rarely visit Memphis.

The image above was taken last night at the Blind Bear. A suburbanite (on the left) who currently lives in Mississippi traveled to Memphis for Thanksgiving with her bestie Beth (on the right) and her dad (not pictured). You never know who you’re going to see at the Bear.

As for why I didn’t go home to Little Rock, I’m technically on call right now. My company, which sanctions the card game bridge, is having one of its three national yearly tournaments in San Francisco right now (you may remember the spring tournament being here in March). That doesn’t mean I can’t go out at all – in fact I plan on hitting the Flying Saucer at 5 – but I need to take it a little easy in case I run home to the computer, so no shots tonight. If I don’t hear from the people in San Fran by 9 or 10 PM things are probably good.

I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving, and maybe I’ll see you out tonight.

Above: The Double J limo. For Grizzlies and Tigers basketball games, you can pre-game at Double J Smokehouse and Saloon, and they will give you a ride to the FedExForum and back to the J after the game. The saloon is located on G.E. Patterson Avenue at Mulberry.

There’s going to be a new festival in Court Square on Saturday, December 15. It’s called “Reindeer Games” and this is the description copied from the Facebook event listing: “Come help the Idlewild Elementary School’s 5th graders go to Washington D.C. There will be live music, Talent Contest, Art Contest, Yummy food from Downtown Restaurants, Family Fun Race, Cornhole Tournament, Pictures with Santa, Reindeer Games t-shirt sales, Pub Crawl starts at end of festival and more to come. Information will be posted soon so save the Date!!” Pub crawl starts at end of festival? I like the sound of that! The only problem with outdoor winter festivals is that I can’t encourage my readers to wear tube tops.

Tonight is “TCB,” Tuesday Curry and Beers, at the Brass Door. This week they will have a choice of Rogan Josh or vegetarian Bombay Aloo curries for $8 at 5 PM. Seamus and Diamond Dave at the bar, and they will be showing Once on the TV to celebrate Glen Hansard playing the Orpheum on Wednesday. My stomach is really messed up (happens when you take a vacation day and start Pint Nite at 11 AM) but if I get to feeling better after work, I will give this a try.

The Peabody’s tree lighting ceremony is Friday from 11 AM to 7:30 PM. Local choirs will perform, with special appearances by the Memphis Symphony Orchestra, Opera Memphis, Paul McKinney Quintet, and Children’s Ballet Theater. Santa will be there and his elves will pass out holiday candy.

Kerry has a running list of what will be open on Thanksgiving. Many of Downtown’s bars – Saucer, South of Beale, Bardog, Blind Bear – will be open during the evening hours.

The City Council votes on a final draft that would allow beer tastings in grocery stores today. If you have a minute, email your local councilperson in support of this ordinance. We need to get our beer laws in line with Tennessee’s other big cities.

MemphisWeather.net is giving away its iPhone app for a limited time. Search for it in the App Store.

That’ll do it for now. Sorry for the lack of a post yesterday, but like I said, when Pint Nite starts at 11 it’s hard to get much productive stuff done.

I just remembered, I wanted to rant about the cab ride to Midtown last night. Three of us pre-gamed at the Silly Goose for a drink, then walked down to Beale where cabs were lined up. We got in a Yellow Cab, one of the ones with the 577-7777 number.

Yellow Cab has a new dispatch system that uses Samsung tablets with GPS on them. The cabbies brag about how it’s the most sophisticated system in America. Unfortunately, all the technology in the world does not make up for a lack of training.

The driver asked where we were going, and we said, “Young Avenue Deli.” He looked like he didn’t know where that was, so we added, “Corner of Cooper and Young.”

He still had no idea where we were going. “Can you give me an address?” he asked. I knew that Cooper intersects Young in the 2100 block, so I said “2159 Young.” That was off by a little but not much, and he was able to punch it into his GPS and get a route out there.

Seriously, do they not give cab drivers even the most basic training, beyond how to use the GPS device? If I owned a cab company, I would expect my drivers to know how to get to at least the following at a minimum:

• Areas with popular nightspots: Beale Street, South Main, Cooper-Young, Overton Square, Broad Avenue Arts District, Highland Strip
• Major sports venues: FedExForum, AutoZone Park, Liberty Bowl
• Major theaters: Orpheum, Playhouse on the Square, Theatre Memphis
• Malls: Oak Court, Wolfchase
• Popular tourist spots: Rendezvous, Graceland, Civil Rights Museum, Peabody Hotel
• Transportation: The airport, the train station, the bus station
• Hospitals: Baptist, Methodist, The MED, St. Jude, LeBonheur

I would also expect them to be able to recite the major streets from memory. Heck, I’ll do it. From north to south: Frayser Boulevard, James, 240, Chelsea, Jackson, North Parkway/Summer, Poplar, Madison, Union/Walnut Grove, Peabody, Central, Southern, South Parkway, Person, Mallory/Norris/Ball/Ketchum, 240, Brooks, Mitchell/Winchester, Raines, Shelby Drive, Holmes. From west to east: Riverside, Front, Main, Second, Third, Danny Thomas, Manassas, Pauline, 240, Bellevue, Cleveland, Belvedere, McLean, Cooper, East Parkway, Hollywood, Highland, Perkins, Mendenhall/Mt. Moriah, White Station, 240, Ridgeway, Kirby Parkway, Germantown Parkway.

And yeah, it’s easy for me because I’ve been a Memphian for many years. But tell me a person of average intelligence could not spend one day studying a map and be able to pass a test on this stuff.

Furthermore, after a year on the job I’d require my drivers to pass another test, with questions like the following, no help from a GPS allowed.

• Take me to Alchemy.
• Take me to the Downtown Gus’s.
• Take me to the nearest Huey’s.
• If Music Fest were happening right now, take me there.
• Take me to the city motor vehicle impound lot.
• Take me to Overton Park.
• … and probably 15 similar questions.

A driver with a year’s experience ought to know most questions of this type, without consulting a GPS, if they’ve been paying attention.

Oh, I have another question. Our driver last night had that fancy-schmancy Samsung tablet. Why, then, should we have to tell him the address to Young Avenue Deli? Why couldn’t he start a Yellow Pages app and LOOK UP THE ADDRESS?????

Okay, rant over. Until Yellow Cab gets its act together better with these tablets, I’m going to be calling Arrow (323-3333) when I need a cab. Alternately, I’ll use the Taxi Magic app on my iPhone (and guess which is the one cab company whose dispatch system doesn’t work with Taxi Magic? Here’s a hint: They use fancy Samsung tablets.)