Paul Ryburn's Journal

When I’m home, I’m pretty much glued to my MacBook except when I’m sleeping. When I’m out, I keep up with Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare on my iPhone. When I was in college I made extra money running a paper-typing business on my Macintosh SE. Therefore, it’s pretty clear what my first topic must be today.

We lost someone who brought simplicity, elegance and art to the world of technology yesterday, when Steve Jobs passed away at 56. We’d probably have to look back 80 years to find the passing of someone whose products and innovation have made such a difference in our daily lives (Thomas Edison in 1931). I’ve seen a lot of articles about Jobs since the news broke, but I think the simplicity and beauty of this timeline in The Daily is the one that best does his life justice.

Yesterday I attended a Social Media Expedition breakfast, where Jessica Grammer gave a presentation on the new Facebook Timelines. They haven’t rolled out yet, but you really need to get an understanding of privacy settings NOW so you don’t expose more of your life than you want to. This L.A. Times article is a good guide.

While at the breakfast, I got two very nice-looking business cards, from Jessica and from real estate/social media expert Joe Spake. It made me think, I need to redo my own business cards (which I forgot to bring to the breakfast unfortunately; I don’t function well at 7:30 AM). Then this morning, this LifeHacker article came across my timeline: CardFlick lets you create and send digital business cards from your iPhone.

That’s a pretty cool concept. You know, now and then I’ll be hanging out at the bars, and I’ll have someone ask me, “I need to get my roof repaired, do you know anyone good?” And I think to myself, I met someone last month who does roof repair, and he seems like he’d be good at it, but I have no idea what his name and contact info is because the card is lying in a cigar box at home. Being able to have those business cards organized in my phone would be nice when I need immediate access to them.

Beer news: South of Beale will have Laughing Skull Amber Ale from Atlanta Brewing Company on tap today. That’s the first time I’ve heard of that beer anywhere Downtown.

The Arkansas Times reviewed the Flying Saucer’s food. Yeah they reviewed the Little Rock Saucer, but it has the same menu as the Memphis one, so the review should be valid here as well as there.

Gov. Haslam announced that Amazon will start collecting Tennessee state sales tax beginning in 2014. In the past Amazon has shut down affiliates in states that demanded tax collection, because their legislatures argued that affiliates were a “physical presence” in the state. With Tennessee, the issue is a distribution warehouse, so I don’t think affiliates will be shut down. There is some good news: The agreement the governor reached with Amazon will bring 2,000 more jobs to Tennessee.

Plans for tonight: MIFA’s Feed the Soul party! Very excited about this. Will probably pre-game at the Saucer from 6 to 7, stop by Max’s to drop off an extra ticket, then hit the Warehouse about 7:15.

A few days earlier I posted that the Greyhound bus station on Union was for sale. Now I’ve learned from this Memphis Daily News article that the bus station plans on being out of Downtown by November. The Greyhound terminal will move out by the airport where it will share space with MATA. This is fantastic news! Starting next month, if vagrants and bums ride Greyhound to Memphis, they’ll have to make the 10-mile walk Downtown, or at least panhandle MATA bus fare.

I saw this link on Twitter this afternoon: Database of athletic director salaries. Care to guess how much R.C. Johnson makes? $332,500 plus a $191,250 bonus. Incompetence certainly carries a high price tag at the University.

FIRE R.C.!!!

Has the fall weather got you hungry for Thanksgiving food? You don’t have to wait until November, because the Canadians celebrate Thanksgiving a month earlier. On Monday, October 10, Kooky Canuck will serve Thanksgiving dinner all day, $7.99 lunch, $12.99 dinner. Here’s the menu:

Turkey (6oz portion)
Dressing ( 6 oz scoop) served on top of turkey
Broccoilli & Cheese ( 8 oz )
Garlic Mash Potato’s & Gravy ( 6 oz )
Cranberry Sauce ( 2oz Scoop)
Stuffing ( 4 oz )
Dinner Roll (1 ) with butter pats (2)
Minced Tart ( 2) with (1) oz scoop of Ice cream in center

Tonight is the annual John Lennon glass night at the Flying Saucer. At 7 special glasses go on sale in honor of John’s birthday (which is actually October 9). I haven’t seen the glass itself (hey Mike, remember how you told me you were going to start emailing me photos for the blog?) but I’ve seen the image that will be on there. I think this will be one of their better ones. The Lennon glass always goes quick, so be there fairly close to 7 if you want to get one.

Speaking of the Saucer… A friend of mine just got back from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. The Saucer paid for him to go, as a reward for completing his 10th plate on the wall. That’s a good deal in and of itself, but there turned out to be more. A lot of the brewers had their own side parties, and let it be known that Saucer VIPs were welcome guests. Pretty sweet deal, to go out there for free and then get the VIP treatment! I’m 4 and two-thirds plates away from earning my trip.

All right… post over! Time to go drink some beer!

The 2011 Snuggie Pub Crawl will happen Friday, November 11 and tickets are now on sale. Participants must be at least 21 and wearing a Snuggie, the blanket with sleeves. Here’s the schedule:

6 PM: Check in at Kooky Canuck
7 PM: BB King’s
8 PM: Club 152
9 PM: Silky O’Sullivan’s
10 PM: Rum Boogie Cafe
11 PM: Alfred’s (awards cermony)
After party: Rum Boogie Cafe with Gabby Johnson

They will be doing Beale Street Bingo. Cards will be available at registration and numbers posted at each stop. First 5 Bingo cards turned in at the awards ceremony win. There are hundreds of dollars in prizes.

Buy tickets here. Tickets are $15 and proceeds will benefit LeBonheur Children’s Hospital. For more information and up-to-date news on the crawl, visit its Facebook event page.

There are several charity pub crawls that happen throughout the year, but in my opinion, this one is the best organized. Every year I meet new people and have a lot of fun. I’ll be rocking the Arkansas Razorbacks Snuggie and hope to see you there.

Last weekend Bar None closed, and John Bragg announced that “some Downtowners you will all recognize” had purchased the space. By Friday I had learned the identity of the owners, but kept it a secret for a few days until they were ready to get the word out.

I can now spill the beans, because co-owner Jeannette West just sent me info to post. She and her husband Jamie West, both currently bartenders at the Silly Goose, are opening the place along with Blue Fin bartender Colin Bergstrom. Jeannette’s father Rick Comans is an owner not involved in operations. The new bar will be a speakeasy called The Blind Bear.

They will have drafts, bottled beer, wine, liquor, specialty drinks/ martinis that they have developed over years and new ones created for the speakeasy. “Think of us giving you a ChamPBR instead of a PBRtini,” Jeannette joked, referring to my signature drink at the Goose.

Michael Bean, currently at the Goose, will be kitchen manager. “Food will be lots of veggies like Grandmas Mac n Cheese, sandwiches like BBQ bologna, fried peanut butter & banana, BLT, grilled cheese, salads, desserts like banana pudding, sweet potato pie (also recipes from our Grandmas),” Jeannette wrote.

There will be poker night, trivia night with Charles who currently does the Goose’s trivia and used to do the Cordova Saucer, and other theme nights in the works. They plan on having many speakeasy elements in their bar, “But those are wait til you see them surprises.”

The Blind Bear will be open 7 days a week, evenings only, except for Sunday brunch. Sounds like another awesome place to hang out is opening up only a few blocks from my front door – glad I just renewed my lease! They’re shooting for early December as the opening date. Congratulations Jeannette, Jamie and Colin!

Just wanted to remind everyone that one of the most fun parties of the year happens Thursday at The Warehouse at 36 G.E. Patterson. Feed the Soul is MIFA’s annual fundraiser. Now, you can pretty much count on any party at the Warehouse being a good time, but this one is especially stacked, including

• Entertainment from WALRUS and V101’s Stan Bell “The Bellringer”
• Tastings from Bacardi, Buster’s Wines & Liquors, and Ghost River Brewery
• Cigars from Havana Mix Cigar Emporium
• A fantastic raffle, featuring prizes from Anthropologie, Gould’s, Hyatt Place, Memphis Brooks Museum of Art, Booksellers at Laurelwood, and more
• Appetizers from students at L’Ecole Culinaire
• Beverages and soul food included in the price of your ticket
• Oxygen bars, a photo booth, and paparazzi-style photos on the green carpet

I went to this party for the first time last year, and it was a blast. “All my friends who thought about going to Feed the Soul, and then didn’t, really missed out,” I wrote at the time. General admission is $40 and you can buy tickets here. Absolutely worth the money and you’re supporting one of Memphis’ best charities.

(Disclosure: They comped me a pair of tickets again, which reminds me, I’ve got to find someone to go with me. However, I can honestly say that if I hadn’t been comped, I would have bought a ticket, after the amazing experience I had last year.)

The South Main Association has announced its October meeting, to be held next Tuesday, October 11. The meeting will be from 6-9 PM at Rizzo’s Diner, Chef Michael Patrick’s new restaurant. It’s located on G.E. Patterson in the old Harry’s Detour space.

At the meeting, President Hank Cowles will discuss the SMA’s accomplishments in 2011. The upcoming Board of Directors election for 2012 will also be discussed.

Light eats and wine will be provided. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

Bardog Tavern is giving away a hearse on Halloween for the second year in a row. It’s a raffle and there are discounts if you buy multiple tickets. The hearse will be legally parked outside Bardog all month, as it was last year. Last year some humorless old poot in the Shrine Building complained about “property values” because of the hearse. If that resident is still there, I offer the following advice: Go fuck yourself. This is not Germantown and people do not have a corncob up their ass down here. Everyone else, come buy raffle tickets and win this hearse! If I win it I will drive it.

(Edited to add: Damn that’s a full-size Fleetwood Brougham hearse, not one of the little ones after Caddy downsized almost all of their fleet in the mid-80s. Nice.)

The people who run the Green Beetle posted to Facebook that Prohibition is over at their bar. They now have liquor. So, if you wanted to go in and check it out but wanted to drink something other than beer, now you can stop on by.

I’m very excited about Wednesday morning, when I will attend the Social Media Expedition’s monthly breakfast. For the past couple of weeks, people have been talking about the soon-to-be-rolled-out Facebook Timelines. These will replace the current profiles, and will offer a much more vivid and thorough look at a person’s/business’s history since they joined Facebook. From what I understand, people/businesses can add photos and video taken prior to the date they joined Facebook, taking them all the way back to birth/incorporation if they choose.

I work for a company that has a rich history, and am excited about using Timelines to share that history with our Facebook fans, particularly since our 75th anniversary is coming up next year. Local social media expert Jessica Grammer will walk the breakfast attendees through the Timeline and the possibilities it offers to businesses. It should be an informative presentation, to say the least.

If you’re interested in attending the breakfast, details can be found here. Space is limited. The breakfast is Wednesday morning from 7:30 to 9:00 AM. Cost is $20. It is a casual event and you’re not required to stay the entire time.

Yesterday I had to be up bright and early, because the Razorbacks played at 11 AM. I showered, threw my clothes on, and headed out the door. As I walked down Main Street Mall, I noticed that Krispy Krunchy Chicken had its sign up:

There’s a sign in the window saying it will be open Monday, October 10. Krispy Krunchy Chicken is at 51 S. Main, between Monroe and Union next to Family Dollar. Krispy Krunchy is a chain with more than 600 locations. You can learn more about them and view their menu on their website.

I had decided to watch the first half of the game at the Saucer, and the second half at Max’s Sports Bar. I grabbed my usual spot at the Saucer and watched the first quarter, which was not good for the Hogs. Texas A&M went up 14-0 and for a while I wondered if Larry Porter was coaching the Hogs.

While I was there, a man came in and handed the Saucer girls several menus. I recognized him as the guy who runs Second Street Shopper down the street. Curious, I went over and looked at one of the menus. It’s for a new restaurant called Zac’s Cafe. I snapped a pic of the menu (click to see it in a larger size):

Zac’s Cafe is located at 175 Peabody Place, in the space inside the Hampton Inn that used to be occupied by Crepe Maker. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and have 24 flavors of soft-serve ice cream. They also have beer on tap and in bottles, including New Belgium, Ghost River, and Samuel Adams. Their hours are 6 AM-2 PM, 5 PM-11 PM Sunday-Thursday; 6 AM-2 PM, 5PM-til late Friday-Saturday.

The game continued, and the Hogs started to wake up but were behind 35-17 at the half. By halftime there were probably 40 people in the place, and more than half of them had on Arkansas attire! Not sure when the Saucer became a Razorback bar but I like it. I canceled my venue change to Max’s for the second half because I was clearly in good company.

The Hogs rallied back in the fourth quarter, making a two-point conversion to tie the game at 35. Our defense finally showed up, and we held the Aggies to a field goal on the next drive down the field. The Hogs then scored a touchdown for a huge come-from-behind win, 42-38. The crowd at the Saucer had grown even more, and called the Hogs no less than three times. What an exciting game!

Afterward I hung out on the patio of the Silly Goose with friends for a couple of hours, then went to the Majestic where I had one of my favorites, the chicken tortellini for dinner.

After that I went home to take a quick nap, planning to get back out to watch the Bama-Florida game, then stop by the Monkey for their first karaoke-free weekend. Didn’t happen. I woke up at 1:40 AM and, although the bars were still open, decided to call it a night. I’ve been needing to recharge my batteries for a while now, and the 12+ hours of sleep felt mighty good.

Congratulations to the Memphis Tigers on finding a way to squander a 17-0 lead and lose 38-31 to one of the worst teams in the Sun Belt conference, Middle Tennessee State. I saw some people say on Twitter that this is a moral victory for the Tigers, because we managed to cover the -24 spread. Statements like that just illustrate how pathetic the Memphis football team has become. The good news is, they may finally get rid of Larry Porter after this loss, but if they want to address the real problem, they need to

FIRE R.C.!!!