Paul Ryburn's Journal

I’ve known about this for some time and have held back, but now management has tweeted it so I’ll go ahead. The Flying Saucer is converting to all non-smoking on July 1. They tried a partial smoking ban before but gave it up. This time they’re going for the whole enchilada. The entire place will be smoke-free, inside room and the Garden. If you want to smoke you’ll have to go outside.

There’s been a lot of discussion among regulars about this. I personally think this is an EXCELLENT move. There are a lot of people who don’t come to the Saucer because they don’t want their hair and clothes and tube tops to smell like smoke. Now they can come back. Also, the Saucer is a beer bar. The whole point is to find new beers you like and learn about them. You’ll be able to do that much better without cigarette smoke affecting your senses of smell and taste.

This will be a point of debate among the Sunday brunch crew, as some members are adamant that they will never set foot in the place again. I do not see a reason to be inconvenienced because of someone else’s filthy, disgusting habit, and plan on keeping my Sunday plans intact: Majestic (which is not involved in this in any way) at 11, Saucer at 12. If I have fewer people to hang with that’s fine.

Smoking in public is going the way of the dinosaurs. Most states have outlawed it already. Kudos to the Saucer for taking the lead on this issue. Wish the Tennessee legislature would make the right move and ban it everywhere.

It’s pool season and I’m about to lay down the law. I’ve seen too many status updates, checkins and pics on Facebook involving pools that are a waste of my time.

This is how it is: If you are female and hot, if you check in at a pool or post a Facebook status update from a pool, you owe us a full-on bikini shot from head to toe. No substitutes. No shots of the water in the pool. We know that there’s water in the pool; otherwise what would be the point? No shots of your damn feet laying out. Here’s a secret. Guys don’t care about your feet. You can spend mega $$$ for a pedicure but we don’t care. We want to see the goods. Full on bikini shot head to toe.

To the very few of my Facebook friends who get this, I award you an Outstanding Performance During Tube Top Month Without Actually Wearing a Tube Top trophy. Feel free to save the image of this trophy and post to your profiles. You are an inspiration, and I most definitely appreciate what you do. The rest of you need to catch up.

Today I regained my rightful status as mayor of two of Downtown’s premier bars, the Flying Saucer and Bardog Tavern.

I started the day at the bar at the Saucer, then moved to the couches when friends arrived. Did a little tube top watching, shot a pic of Christy chowing down… and stole the mayorship back. The former mayor is on a canoe trip and won’t be back until late tomorrow, so the Saucer mayorship should be mine for a while. I don’t miss days.

My mayoral pledge to the Saucer is to be a mayor who can hang all night. None of this “it’s 8:30, I’m heading south for a night of drama and bad singing” BS that we got from the former mayor every Saturday.

About 6:00 I moved on to Bardog Tavern. I checked in, stole that mayorship and enjoyed the Daily Dog for dinner. Today’s Dog is the Motor City Madman, with chili, cheese, onions and spicy mustard.

My mayoral pledge to Bardog is to never go “after all, I AM the mayor” in an attempt to get free food, the way a certain former mayor (not the most recent one) did.

Taking a break to let the phone charge, then back out. Most likely I’ll go to the Saucer to hear the band, with possible other stops nearby later in the evening.

Last night while I was at the Saucer, a friend told me about a Foursquare special that seemed almost too good to be true: If you check in at Kooky Canuck and show the checkin to your server, they’ll give you 25% off your entree. You don’t have to be the mayor or go there a number of times to unlock it – all you have to do is show your checkin. He told me he went there and got it, and then the guy sitting next to him at the bar got it too. Today I got on Foursquare’s site and verified it. Yep, it’s true. 25% off one meal per day, up to $19.99 in value (which is nearly everything on Kooky’s menu), cannot be combined with other specials.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about a 50% off sale at Coco & Lilly. Well, yesterday I saw on Twitter that the store is closing tomorrow. So if you want to get down there and get some tube tops at bargain prices, you better do it this weekend.

Very fun night last night. Started at the Saucer. You know those feathers that a lot of girls are getting in their hair lately? A friend of mine is a hair stylist, and he does them. The waitresses were telling me, “Paul, you should get your hair feathered.” HELL NO! That, along with karaoke night at the Monkey, is on the list of things I will NEVER do!

After the Saucer, I stopped by Bardog, then moved on to Paula & Raiford’s Disco. You know what I realized? The best ’70s disco songs are really gay. I mean GAAAAAAAAAY. I realized this when they played “It’s Raining Men” last night. One of the best dance songs ever, but one that will forever be known as the theme song for “Men on Film” on In Living Color. “Dancing Queen” by ABBA? Gaaaay. “YMCA” by the Village People? Gaaaaaaay. “You Make Me Feel Mighty Real” by Sylvester? Gaaaaaaaaaaaaay. All great songs though.

I finally learned how to take photos at Raiford’s without the fog machine ruining them. You go ahead and take the photos, then when you download them, turn the contrast way up. That fixes them pretty well.

Speaking of photos, the photo of Nikki (see the previous post) makes me realize that a Downtown nickname is now in dispute. Up until now, the name “Tube Top Nikki” has referred to the dark-haired Nikki who plays poker at Max’s and wears tube tops in November. However, after last night at Raiford’s, blond Nikki has a legitimate claim to that nickname as well. We need to find a way to settle this once and for all. I’m thinking maybe a grudge match in lime Jello, or pudding. I’ll volunteer to serve as referee.

Finished the night with a 4 AM breakfast at Cockadoos. I love the fact that Cockadoos has Mountain Dew on tap.

Checking Foursquare, I see that I wasn’t the only one out late. The Nuh-Uh Girl regained her mayorship of Club Shadows last night. Wonder if she unlocked the “Cougar” badge as well?

Productive Saturday on tap. Two of the most coveted Downtown mayorships on Foursquare will be mine once again today. Weighing options for tonight. The West Tennessee Wife Swappers, one of the better bands the Saucer books and one that hasn’t played in a while, is there tonight. Another option is to do a South Main night. I’m guaranteed to always know most of the people at Max’s, and I really need to go by Earnestine & Hazel’s and pay Miss Karen and Nate a visit. Then there’s a third option, which is “none of the above.” At this point, all I know is “anything but karaoke” accurately describes this evening’s plans, despite a lecture about karaoke from a friend’s mom via Facebook message.

Time to go out in the heat. How the human race survived for two million years before A/C was invented is a mystery to me.

Yep. Raiford’s tonight. Nikki (pictured above) went out of her way to make sure everyone knew she had a tube top on. I like it.

Yeah, yeah, I know… sorry for the lack of a lunchtime post today, but I was having issue with a major company’s support site. I was just too ticked off to write anything worth reading.

In case you missed the news, eight people tried to board the trolleys and falsely claim injury after yesterday afternoon’s trolley crash. My God. Some people are just unbelievable. Way to keep it classy, there, Memphis.

Speaking of the trolleys, they’re 25 cents tomorrow due to high ozone in the atmosphere. MATA buses will be 25 cents too.

The Memphis Business Journal print edition had an article on the Krispy Krunchy Chicken going in at 51 S. Main. They’re going to knock down the back wall and use the full building, so it will be twice as large as the space was when it was Hari’s and Renee’s Sandwich Shop.

The Redbirds are having a fireworks game tonight if you’re looking for something to do (and don’t mind 99 degree heat). Game at 7:05, fireworks afterward. Breakfast at Tiffany’s plays at the Orpheum (with Little Black Dress contest), and Michael Buble is at the FedExForum.

Weird weekend… most of the crew I hang with are out of town on a canoe trip. I was invited but declined because I’m not a great swimmer. No intention of staying home alone all weekend though. I plan to get out and hit some places I haven’t been in a while, make my own fun. I’ll have the camera with me and will post a report if anything interesting happens.

Or maybe I won’t, depending on what kind of fun I get into…

Two trolleys collided yesterday in the Pinch, sending several people to the hospital. The trolley line lost power, sending one trolley crashing into the other. The Memphis Flyer has a pic here. This comes four days after a trolley caught fire outside the Majestic Sunday morning.

Suggestion for MTV: Have the fifth season of Jersey Shore here, and have the cast run MATA for their job. They couldn’t do any worse than the current MATA executives.

Fun fact I learned today: Fred Smith saved FedEx by taking its last $5,000 and gambling it into $32,000 in Vegas. Thanks to @finnious for tweeting that; he tweets a lot of interesting stuff and is a good person to follow on Twitter.

It’s rooftop party Thursday, and the weather is so hot that a tube top is pretty much mandatory attire. Almost Famous plays the Peabody rooftop tonight. Buffet (included in price of admission) has an Asian theme this week, with teriyaki chicken kabobs, vegetarian egg rolls, and pork fried rice. Buffet in VIP will consist of fried dumplings, California rolls, and chicken chow mein. Also, if you hold a VIP pass there’s a private party in Corner Bar for you from 5 to 6, with fried ravioli, crab cakes, mini Kobe burgers, and Yuengling. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

Meanwhile, over at the Madison, Brian “Breeze” Cayole will play his soulful sounds rooted in the tradition of his hometown, New Orleans. $7 cover, cash bar and tapas available.

It’s Thursday and the Redbirds have a home game, which means all-you-can-eat seats will be available. For $18 you get a seat and access to a 2-hour long buffet. All you can eat? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

Trying to decide between Peabody rooftop and poker at Max’s tonight. Both are good options. Heat may sway me in favor of Max’s though. Time to grab a lunch, outta here for now.

I regret that I have to start my Wednesday lunchtime post with some bad news. Multiple sources report that a body was found last night in the area of Elvis Presley Blvd. and Winchester. The clothing matches what Beale Street ambassador Rudy Williams had on when he was last seen, and the location is only a few blocks from where Rudy lived. I suspected the worst, and sadly it looks like I was right. As bluesman Eric Hughes said this morning, Rudy has a new gig, playing out in front of Heaven, welcoming folks.

On to better news: CNBC reports that investors from around the country will gather in Memphis tomorrow to hear pitches from six teams. These teams have been through the SeedHatchery entrepreneurial boot camp for the past 90 days, receiving $15,000 startup funds and intense mentoring. They went through 60 activities to build their skills, and now they’ve reached the point where they are ready to leave the nest. Good luck to all the teams. I follow several of them on Twitter and have been amazed by all the hard work they’ve put in since February.

One of the teams produced an iPhone app named Krikle. Krikle is an augmented-reality app that lets you write on a virtual graffiti wall at any location. The graffiti you leave is then visible to other Krikle users through their phone’s camera. Really neat idea. I downloaded the app this morning and plan to have some fun trying it out tonight.

Here’s an interesting link I saw today: How to Make Deep Fried Beer.

Bikers: If you’re going to Bikes on Beale tonight, show your keys at BB King’s and you’ll get in for free, and you’ll get specials including $2.50 PBR, half off select appetizers, and 20% off any regularly priced retail item in their store.

Other stuff going on tonight: Redbirds play Albuquerque at 7:05. Ladies, with a heat wave moving in, a tube top would make great ballpark attire. It’s also pint night at South of Beale, ladies’ night at Bar None, poker night in the Underdog Room at Bardog (7:30), and Jeremy Stanfill plays the Silly Goose (9:30). I’ll probably be out somewhere playing with Krikle on my phone!

Wanted to link to a couple of interesting articles before going out for the night:

First of all, local startup stiQRd was featured in an article on Mashable today. stiQRd is an app that produces verifiable checkins, done using QR codes, that can be used in loyalty programs for businesses. Getting a Mashable mention is a huge deal. It’s one of the most widely read social media blogs in the world. Congratulations to stiQRd, and to Memphis Daily News writer Andy Meek for getting a Mashable byline.

You know, I was thinking… what if I printed tube tops with QR codes on them, and when you scan the QR code, it takes you to my blog? That’d be pretty cool. Wonder if enough would sell to make it an idea worth pursuing.

The second big news iteam of the day is that school board member Tomeka Hart is planning a run for Congress. She’s a Democrat, so she’d be facing Rep. Steve Cohen in the 2012 primary. I was not a fan of Cohen’s prior opponents, Nikki Tinker and Willie Herenton. However, I’ve served on the board of MPACT with Tomeka, and she is one sharp lady. She’s also African-American, and while race shouldn’t matter in selecting a Congressperson, let’s face it, this is Memphis and it will. She’s going to be a formidable challenger to Cohen. I can’t think of a reason not to vote for Steve, who has done an outstanding job, but I would be perfectly happy being represented by Tomeka.

That’s the news for now. Gonna hit the last hour of happy hour at Bardog, then wander over to the Silly Goose for their 8 PM trivia.