Paul Ryburn's Journal

There are a few big events coming up this weekend. Longtime Memphians may know about these, but I want to mention them for those new to Memphis:

Smokin’ Aces BBQ Festival at Harrah’s Tunica Friday to Sunday. This festival is smaller than Memphis in May BBQ Fest, but the teams who compete tell me it’s more fun. If you know anyone on a team who will be there, this would be worth checking out.

The Cooper-Young Festival is this weekend. This is Memphis’ largest street festival, running about half a mile down South Cooper Street and a couple of blocks down Young Avenue. Hundreds of arts and craft vendors sell their work. There are bands on several stages. Plenty of food and beer vendors, and the restaurants and bars on the festival route often run specials as well. Cooper-Young is one of the most open-minded neighborhoods in the city, and there will be booths with info on the environment, women’s issues, gay/lesbian issues, homeless issues, etc. The festival is Saturday 9 AM to 7 PM. This is a different festival from the Cooper-Young Beerfest I’ve written about – that one is October 13.

Downtown Museum Day is this Saturday. 15 museums and attractions will offer free or half-price admission. Not only are the big names participating, but lesser-known museums like the W.C. Handy Museum, the Slave Haven Underground Railroad Museum, and the Fire Museum of Memphis. Lots of cool stuff to do, although I think they’d draw better crowds if they didn’t schedule this the day of C-Y Fest.

In other news: 16 groups have been selected for Park(ing) Day. On September 21 these groups will transform Downtown parking spaces into miniature parks, each with a different theme. Among the themes will be a life-sized Jenga game, a roller skating disco opera, a mini tennis park, and a bike maintenance and repair station.

The Daily News reports that new businesses are moving Downtown, including an antique/gift shop on Union and a public strategy planning business in Pembroke Square.

The company that makes White Cloud toilet paper is running two job fairs in DeSoto County today. They plan on doubling their Memphis-area workforce, and 100 positions are open. Pay is in the $13-17 range, not bad at all.

Jerry Lawler is said to be stable in a cardiac care unit after suffering a heart attack on WWE Monday Night Raw. His ex-wife Stacy “The Kat” Carter” tweeted that he had a stint and a balloon put in. Best wishes to the King as I close out this lunchtime blog post.

Just got home, checked Twitter, and discovered that Jerry “The King” Lawler collapsed on the set of WWE Monday Night Raw tonight. He was taken to the hospital. This was not a wrestling storyline.

Praying for you, King. If any one human being summarizes all the good there has been in Memphis the past 40 years, it has to be you.

If you checked this blog for a lunchtime post, you may have got a database error… or nothing at all. GoDaddy’s servers were hacked this morning, and it took the web hosting company several hours to get service working again. Below is the post that I typed into Notepad and saved at lunchtime, since I couldn’t get to my blog.

I want to start off this Monday blog post by dispelling a myth that was prevalent this past weekend. Time and time again I heard, “You don’t want to get within about a quarter mile of Beale Street on the night of Southern Heritage Classic. It’s scary and it’s not safe. You could get robbed, you could get shot, you could get run over trying to cross through the heavy traffic.”

Well, Saturday night I decided to see if this was really true. I left the Brass Door about 10:30 (the costume contest I was to judge kind of didn’t happen, at least not while I was there) and I walked south. I reached the Flying Saucer about 10 minutes later. The doors and garage windows were open and people were having a good time. So much for the rumor that all the bars within a block or two of Beale lock the customers in for their own safety about 10 PM. I walked past the Silly Goose and they were letting people in too. No problems at all. I stayed at the Saucer until they turned the lights on at 2:15 and never felt the least bit unsafe. Then I walked to the Blind Bear, had a beer there, and got home about 3. I saw no evidence that Downtown is any more unsafe during Southern Heritage Classic weekend than it is during any other busy weekend. Of course, I didn’t go on Beale Street itself, but then again I rarely go to Beale most weekends anyway.

Due to my late finish Saturday night, I didn’t get out until noon Sunday. I had a couple of new options, with both Max’s Sports Bar and the Blind Bear opening at noon for NFL games. Because of that, I decided to delay my Saucer visit until 5 and try something new. I pulled up Foursquare on my phone and saw the Sunday brunch crew checking into the Bear. That sounded like a plan to me, so in I went.

The Bear was a good call indeed. Sound was on for the game, but it wasn’t so loud that we couldn’t hear each other talk. Neither private room was in use for football viewing, so people might want to keep those in mind for future weeks. Cold PBR at the bar (can’t get that at the Saucer), great service, and damn Kalista can rock a black skirt. I ordered a BLT and pepper jack mac & cheese to try and clear out the cobwebs from Saturday night. About an hour after I finished my meal, kitchen manager Michael Bean came over and said, “Paul, I’m going to bring you another bowl of mac & cheese. I didn’t realize how salty that last batch was. I’m sorry you had to eat it and I threw it out and am bringing you some from the new batch.” I didn’t really think the bowl I had was that bad, but it was a nice gesture that is indicative of how the Bear treats its customers. If the brunch crew makes the Bear its regular noon stop on Sundays, I will really have no choice but to demote the Saucer to mid-afternoon.

After a brief Saucer visit, I came back to the Bear for poker night at 6:30. As I expected, it was much more laid-back than the Tuesday game, with a crowd of about 20. Most of the night we were playing six-handed, where it’s a lot easier to get creative with your hands than at a full table. I came in third, earning some league points.

Because I was at the Brass Door Saturday night, I didn’t get a chance to see the ULM-Arkansas game. Probably a good thing. After entering the season being talked about as a national title contender, the Hogs lost in overtime to a Sun Belt team. As a result, Arkansas fell out of the top 25 after being ranked 8th last week. I guess this illustrates that top-level players need a top-level coach. There’s no way we would have lost to ULM had Petrino been coaching. Then again, we couldn’t have kept Petrino without becoming a program where the coach runs the university (see Penn State football, Ohio State football,, and Kentucky basketball in the past five years). My God. Alabama is going to kill us on Saturday, and then we’ll be 1-2. On the bright side for Arkansas fans in Memphis, the Hogs’ chances of ending up in the Liberty Bowl just got a lot better. If we can get 6 wins, that is.

Important PBR news: Double J Smokehouse and Saloon will have $2 PBR 5 to close tonight as a Monday Night Football special. Other specials include $3 Fireball and a French Dip sandwich with au jus and hand-cut fries.

More important PBR news: Max’s Sports Bar has PBR Monday going on right now, with $1 PBR and hot dogs from open until 7.

In Downtown news, the Hard Rock Cafe has announced Lil’ Rocker Tuesdays. Every Tuesday from 5-10 PM, kids 10 and under will eat free off the menu from the Hard Rock scratch kitchen. They’ll be adding area attractions to the night in future weeks – everything from ice cream socials to live music by kids. Two free kids’ meals per adult entree purchased.

All right. Site is back up. Today’s post has been published. Time for a beer. Pint Nite at the Saucer at 6, poker hosted by Muruako at the Goose at 9.

Blind Bear will be open at noon on Sundays starting this week. Previously they had been opening at 3 for “Hung Over Like a Bear” brunch, but with NFL season starting, they want to be open for all the games. They’ll turn the sound on for the game being shown at the bar if you request it. If you’d prefer to watch a different game, you can reserve the Den or the dining room and put your game on the TV, with sound. They will have RedZone as well.

The Bear has a pool table for those who wish to play a game while they watch football.

Also, Blind Bear is adding a second poker night to the week, Sundays at 6:30. Winners on Sunday night will earn points toward the poker league that has been ongoing on Tuesdays. There will also be a $50 weekly prize. Free to play. It’s only week 3 of a 16-week league, so plenty of time to earn points. Previous grand prizes in the league have included an iPad and $500 in gift cards to local restaurants. Michael Bean will be the tournament director. The Sunday game is good news for several reasons:

1) It probably won’t draw the huge crowds of as many as 50 that show up on Tuesdays. Jamie told me he expects maybe 20 or 25, and I agree with that estimate.

2) Since Michael Bean will be running the game, Jamie will actually be able to play. Jamie says he hopes to play every other week, and Jeannette will play some too.

3) Since Michael Bean will be running the game, that means he won’t be playing! No nuisance raises, none of him saying “all-in” on the turn when he folded his cards on the flop, no foolishness.

Last night, Jamie showed me the new poker table he has on order. It will be the largest size made – I think he said 96 inches. It will sit where the dining room table is now (“Jeannette and I will finally get our dining room table back” and will have black felt with “The Blind Bear” on it. It will come with a cover, so it will be able to be used as a dining table on non-poker nights.

The company that made the Bear’s poker chips is making the table, and it will be here in about a month. Or, if they screw up the order like they did the chips, it will be here in 3 months and a poker table with “Blind Bare” will be marked down cheap at a warehouse sale somewhere.

Sundays just got more fun. Maybe I’ll see you tomorrow night for poker!

For the second time in two days, I’ve been asked to be a celebrity judge. I will be judging the costume contest at the Brass Door’s alley party tomorrow night, Saturday, September 8. To celebrate the first birthday of the Irish pub, the male and female best-dressed as leprechauns will win prizes of $100, $75, and $50. The contest will happen around 9, so come on down. Actually there’s plenty of reason to come earlier than 9, because the bands start at 3. Bands will include Forklift, The Door Knobs, Striking Midnight, Joe Guyton, Big Betsy, Favourite Fallen Idol, and Reverend Hitchhikers. Although yesterday I suggested a tube top as a good start to a female leprechaun costume, I promise I will be open-minded about non-tube top costumes as well.

There will be a series of concerts in Court Square on Sundays from September 23 to October 14. Concerts will be from 4 to 6 PM. Coolers and lawn chairs are welcome, and pets are too as long as you clean up after them. You can view the lineup here. Excellent time of year for concerts. It will have cooled off so it’s not 100 outside like it was yesterday, but it will still be warm enough for ladies who want to rock a tube top on a fine fall Sunday.

Sick of people’s political rants on Facebook? Lifehacker has a tutorial on how to block people’s annoying political posts.

Traffic alert: The Southern Heritage Classic is tomorrow night at the Liberty Bowl at 6 PM. A lot of fans of the Classic come Downtown after the game, so expect heavy traffic after 9 PM, especially around Beale Street. If you plan on going to the Beale district, expect super-long security lines.

New Orleans is trying to require a license for tour guides. To get the license, guides would have to pass a history exam, a criminal background check, and a drug test. Living in Downtown Memphis which is also a popular tourist district, I know exactly why they’re doing this. “Hey mayne, you from out of town? You look like you’re from Germania, or one of them countries. That over there is the Peabody, they got ducks that swim in a pond in the lobby. And that over there, that’s Redbirds Stadium, where the Cardinals play. And down there is Beale Street where you can hear a lot of good bands. Hey big time, hey bro, can I get a dolla? Come on, I’m showing you around Downtown, let me have a dolla or two. You ain’t gonna give me no dolla? Well, f*** you then! F***ing bitch!” I’m sure the same thing happens in NOLA, and it’s probably worse down there.

Several Memphis basketball-related items this morning:

1) The Grizzlies are getting a new court. It will replace the one they’ve been using for 10 years. It costs $200,000 and can be installed or taken down in 75 minutes. That’s necessary for days when there’s a Tigers game at noon and a Grizzlies game at 7. The Tigers will get a new court in 2013 after they join the Big East. More details in the MBJ.

2) Speaking of the Big East, they’re considering a name tweak. With San Diego State and other Western schools joining the conference, that’s probably a good idea.

3) Justin Timberlake will be part of the local minority ownership group of the Grizzlies. Buyer Robert Pera recruited Timberlake to be part of the group. Details here.

That’s it for now. Not sure what I’ll be doing tonight, but I’ll be out about 6 PM.

Me.

Seth has been bugging me on Twitter to come on board as a judge for Best Memphis Burger Festival for about a month now. “Let me think about it,” I kept telling him. Then yesterday, I went to the Saucer for after-work beers. The manager told me that I had two beers that had already been paid for, and said, “hang on, we have something for you.” He brought me a Best Memphis Burger sign, with a note on the back asking me to please consider being a judge.

I thought about it. Burgers? Beer? I mean really, why would I say no to this? I tweeted Seth this morning agreeing to do it. Not sure I’m the most qualified person in the world to judge burgers – I don’t think there are courses on being a burger judge as there are for BBQ – but, why not. I’ll be at the festival at Minglewood Hall on Sunday, September 30. About 20 teams will compete for the title of Best Memphis Burger. There will be a Kookamonga challenge and other fun stuff as well. Hope to see you there.

They’re moving me to a new workspace this afternoon, so I need to cut this post short, grab a quick bite from Wendy’s, and then get packing. If any news comes in I’ll do an after-work post.

Lots of news came in while I was eating lunch, necessitating a second post for the day.

Coworking has come to Downtown Memphis. Many self-employeds work from home or take their laptops to coffee shops (or the Flying Saucer, as I did when self-employed). However, some people miss an environment where they are working around others who are also working, where they can bounce ideas off one another. To address that need, Urban Workspace is opening at 6 West G.E. Patterson. There will be 24 coworking spaces, and members of the space will also have access to a conference room, a full kitchen, presentation materials, workshops, seminars, monthly cooking classes, and more amenities. More info here. The grand opening for the workspace is tonight at 6 and the public is invited. There will be live music, drinks, and food by Chef Michael Patrick of Rizzo’s Diner. Sorry for telling you about this event just minutes before the start time, but I didn’t hear about it until this afternoon. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

Best Memphis Burger Festival news: Sponsor Kooky Canuck will put the winning burger on their menu for one week, according to a tweet sent out this afternoon by the festival’s account. Um won’t that be a little odd if one of Kooky’s competitors in the restaurant biz wins?

South Main Fashion Night Out happens tomorrow night, Thursday, September 6, at the Rumba Room from 6 to 9 PM. It will showcase the many salons and boutiques that have made South Main their home. The latest fashion, hair, and makeup styles will be on display. Event benefits the Ronald McDonald House and tickets are $15 in advance from the boutiques, or $20 at the door.

Also tomorrow night, Felicia Suzanne’s kicks off its Thursday night Autumn Tasting Series. Each Thursday they’ll have a different three-course dinner on the patio, with optional wine tasting. This week’s tasting will be Claybrook Farms with a Santa Barbara Pinot Noir pairing, and live music by 2 Mule Plow from 7:30 to 9:30.

A recent survey showed that 29 percent of Americans think cloud computing involves an actual cloud (you know, those things in the sky that sometimes rain on us). 51% believed that stormy weather could interfere with cloud computing. Oh my God. The only thing missing from the article is a quote from Sarah Palin.

After I posted about the free burgers and hot dogs on Double J’s upper patio tonight, my buddy Duck Finkley texted me and said “Paul let’s do the j tonight.” Duck, it’s 100 outside. Not really excited about walking almost a mile to Double J in the heat, or waiting on the unreliable southbound trolley for as much as 25 minutes. I doubt I’ll get farther than the Saucer before I’m ready for air conditioning.

(There are probably people in the ‘burbs right now reading this, thinking, “Why doesn’t he just drive his car down to Double J?” They don’t get it.)

So that’s the plan. Saucer at 6, then Blind Bear at 8 for trivia. Back tomorrow with more news, or possibly sooner if I hear anything particularly good.

Downtown Irish pub The Brass Door celebrates its first birthday this weekend, and they have a big weekend planned:

The main event will be an alley party Saturday, with seven bands performing from 3 PM to midnight. I went to their grand opening alley party last year and it was a lot of fun – good food, good music. There will be a costume contest with $100/$75/$50 prizes for the best female and male leprechaun. Suggestion for female contestants: A green tube top would be a great start to your costume.

Friday they kick things off with traditional Irish music in the bar, as well as 2 for 1 fish and chips and $1 Guinness (first 100 pints). Fun weekend ahead at the Brass Door. Of course, tonight is Brass Door Bingo with Diamond Dave at 7:30.

Tonight is the first regular-season NFL game, as the Dallas Cowboys play the New York Giants at 7:30. Double J Smokehouse and Saloon will have a pre-game “tailgate party” on their upstairs deck with free burgers and hot dogs until they run out, starting at 5 PM. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

In other NFL/Downtown bar news, the Silly Goose is putting in a giant projection TV to show the games. I know they were installing it last night; it should be ready today, but if not, it will be ready by Sunday. A couple of corrections to what I posted about their NFL Sunday events earlier: There is NO UPPER LIMIT to the number of entries your fantasy football team can get per week in the drawing. If 35 people from your league show up at the Goose (can a league even have that many? not sure) you get 35 entries. The drawing will be for a $300 Super Bowl party. Happy hour domestic prices and $4 Fireball during the Sunday games.

Forbes has a good article about WordPress and its founder Matt Mullenweg in its latest issue. Although WordPress currently runs on one-sixth of the world’s websites (including this one), Matt has not become a billionaire like his counterparts at Facebook and Google, because he has been determined to stay true to the open-source model. WordPress was our BBQ team’s main sponsor, and we had the pleasure of having Matt and a few of his team in the booth for BBQ Fest.

Bleu will have a special 3-course prix fixe “out of the bleu” menu September 10-15. View the menu here.

That’ll do it for now. Undecided at this point whether I’ll hit the Double J for their tailgate party after work, or do the Saucer as usual. Most likely will be at the Blind Bear for trivia at 8.

Not much in the way of posts for a few days. The only excuse that I can offer was that I was out enjoying Labor Day weekend in Downtown Memphis! These were a few of the highlights:

– Walking around the Memphis Farmers Market. I don’t go to the Farmers Market a lot because I don’t cook and I’m not a morning person. However, every time I do go I’m just blown away by how fantastic it is. Veggies, flowers, jellies, coffee, locally grown meat, cooking demos, live music, food trucks. I saw several restaurant owners there getting locally produced food.

– Saturday at Max’s Sports Bar. I meant to just stop by for one or two quick beers, then hit the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival… but friends showed up and I ended up staying until 4.

– Listening to my neighbor’s band the Swamp Katz Sunday at Memphis Music & Heritage Festival. As I took in the music and drank a Bloody Mary, I thought about one of my Foursquare friends who checks in at “Da Front Porch Sippin” when she visits Hernando, Mississippi. Since I live on Main Street, I figured, the Main Street Mall is sort of my front porch, and therefore I was doing my own version of “front porch sippin.”

– Hanging out with the crew from the Majestic Grille (and Kyla from Aldo’s Pizza Pies) at the Blind Bear Sunday evening. It was the start of a long weekend for them – the Majestic closed for Labor Day and will be closed today and tomorrow to spruce the place up. Everyone was in a great mood and I had a blast.

– Monday turned into another of those “meant to just stay for a drink or two, ended up staying hours and hours” kind of days. This time the Silly Goose was the spot. I went there at 4 for a drink or two with a friend visiting from out of town. While there, I learned that the Goose had changed their Monday poker night: Only one game now, beginning at 9 PM, with regular player Muruako being promoted to host. I stuck around for the game and ended up coming in third. Congrats to first-time player Marty on his win. It’s a new 16-week poker league, with 5 points for first place, 4 for second, and so on.

All right, let’s get to the news. Tickets for Memphis’ best beer festival, the Cooper-Young Beer Festival, will go on sale Friday, September 7. They can be purchased on the festival website or at the Rock 4 Love festival in Midtown this weekend. The beer fest is Saturday, October 13. This ain’t no damn socialite party like a couple of beer fests that happen in late August/early September. Rather, it’s all about the beer – trying beers not usually seen in the area, learning about different styles of craft beer, getting to talk to the brewers in their booths. Tickets are $35 in advance, $40 the day of if there are any left. They cap attendance to keep the lines short.

If you take I-40 to and from Arkansas, there are going to be lane closings on the bridge this week. Crews will be conducting an inspection of the bridge.

Bruce V from the Memphis Flyer has a good blog post about the 17 Commercial Appeal jobs that are being outsourced to India.

My Hogs moved up to 8 in this week’s AP poll. Glad to see us above South Carolina this week.

That’ll do it for now. Hopefully it won’t be 3 days between posts for a while.

I forced myself to go home at 11 last night, because there’s a lot of good stuff happening today, and a lot of it is in the morning. I didn’t want to miss any of it.

My first stop today will be the Memphis Farmers Market at S. Front and G.E. Patterson. Hopefully I’ll get there by 10:15, in time to catch a little of Felicia Willett’s cooking demo at 10:15. Grabbing breakfast from one of the food trucks at the market sounds like a good plan.

At 11 I’ll wander over to Max’s Sports Bar. Max’s is only a block away from the farmers market, in the Arcade Building next to the cheesecake shop, so it will be a quick walk. It’s the first Saturday of the college football season, and Max will have the games on all 10 of his TVs. The good thing about college football at Max’s is that he’ll print out schedules of what game will be on what TV, and tape them next to each TV. That helps you figure out which is the right seat for you. He also has a big deck out back, which will be really nice for the fall weather. Also, today is Ciara’s first day (pictured in center of photo, in white tube top) as day bartender. $2.50 PBR on draft plus a full selection of liquor.

What teams will I be rooting for as I watch college football this season? Five of them. Arkansas, Memphis, and whoever is playing Tennessee, Ole Miss, and Texas. As much as I enjoyed having Lauren behind the bar during previous football seasons on Saturdays, I must admit it will be nice this year to have a bartender who doesn’t wear that godawful UT orange.

The UT orange thing is also the reason I get along with Sutch at the Brass Door much better when it’s not September-December. (I’d say September-January, but let’s face it, there’s not a chance in hell UT will be good enough to secure a January bowl game) Thankfully, the Saucer does not allow Christina to wear her UT orange at work.

Anyway, back to today’s plans. About 1 I will walk or trolley north to the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival. There I will do what I do best: Wander around and talk to people. And drink PBR. Usually I have a no-side-trips rule at festivals, but with my two Foursquare bar mayorships (Blind Bear and Flying Saucer) so close by, I’m sure there will be side trips. I’m not the mayor of the Majestic Grille (John D, who has a breakfast named after him at the restaurant, has claimed that crown) but it’s usually a good side trip spot at MM&HF too. A strawberry basil martini on the patio might happen at some point this weekend. I’m thinking Miss Ella’s greens and hot water cornbread and then a Pronto Pup for dinner.

The Cochon 555 heritage pork BBQ festival is happening this weekend too. The Eat Local Memphis blog is doing a great job covering that festival, so keep your eye on it throughout the weekend.