Paul Ryburn's Journal

I need to take a short break from the blog. I had a situation happen Tuesday night that upset me so much that it made me physically sick for a while. It’s not something that should be talked about on here. Just know that I’m OK, and it’s not a serious/permanent situation like someone dying or anything like that.

I’ll try to be back tomorrow with a regular news post. I hate it that this happened during Tube Top Month. You know, it’s funny, a lot of bloggers routinely go 3 days between (substantive) posts, and yet I feel like I’m going eons without posting and letting my readers down. Thanks to all of you for your support, and I’ll be back soon, promise.

We’re getting the band back together! The Rapscallions trivia team re-formed last week at the Silly Goose, after merging with another team to become the Deep-Fried Rapscallions. We want that $300 cumulative prize for the team with the most points June through August, and we’re also interested in adding another first-place $50 gift certificate to our stash. Starts at 8, same format as the old Saucer trivia that Pete and Mikey used to do. They’re good about wrapping it up quickly at the Silly Goose, usually over by 9:30 so you can get a full night’s sleep. Or, you can stay and listen to live music. Come on down and join us! Looks like our team will be adding a new member this week.

I want to let you know about a couple of other good Tuesday night options. Friends of mine have given me more details about steak night at the Downtown Blue Monkey. They told me that the steaks are filets, from Charlie’s Meat Market, and I can’t remember the exact prices but I think they were in the teens, which is just an excellent deal. We have a team member who writes a food blog, and if he needs to miss trivia to try out steak night at the Monkey, we will completely understand.

There are, of course, two really good trivia nights Downtown on Tuesdays, the other being trivia night at Ferraro’s Pizzeria and Pub. It just keeps getting better. Last week they started the $15 all-you-can-eat pizza and all-you-can-drink PBR deal. This week, they’re moving trivia into the party room. This is a very good move. Trivia there had become so popular that they were running out of space. Now they’ll have tons more, and people who want to stand and congregate around the bar rather than sit in booths will have that option. The Rapscallions ended up at the Goose because it’s closer to where most of us live, but I wholeheartedly endorse Ferraro’s. Kevin Cerrito is an excellent trivia master. Again, if the food blogger on our team needs to skip Goose trivia to “find” the $15 all-you-can-eat food at Ferraro’s, the team will completely understand and support his decision.

There’s lots going on Friday night, and here’s yet another event: Memphis on the Rocks. Bartenders mix up some of the best spirits across the Southern Region, including Vodkas, Gins, Whiskey, Tequilas, Bourbons, Rums, Cordials, Wines and even Beers. Also enjoy food from some of Memphis’ finest restaurants and hear the live sounds of a live juke joint band. Tickets are $45 singles and $65 couples. Get tickets here. Event will be at 409 S. Main, and it’s also Trolley Night so there will be plenty going on outside.

Here’s something kinda cool: Excellbook, which makes your Facebook feed look like a spreadsheet, so you won’t get caught surfing Facebook at work. I wonder if it supports linking to YouTube music videos? If so, I know someone who will be very excited about this program.

The Orpheum will have a “test-drive your seats” event Thursday from 10 AM to 6 PM. Come by and try out seats until you find the perfect ones for the coming season. Purchase season tickets that day, and you’ll receive 6 free tickets you can use for any of their summer movie series.

Couple of parties coming up at Kooky Canuck. The first one is this Thursday, when they will have a Sports Ball kick-off party from 5:30 to 7. You’ll be able to order your Sports Ball gala tickets there, while enjoying $2 beer, wine, well drinks and complimentary light appetizers. There will be a raffle and appearances by sports personalities. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

Kooky Canuck will also have a Canada Day celebration on July 1. These will be the food and drink specials:

DRINK SPECIALS
$2.00 All Canadian Bottles
$5.00 34oz 40 Tea

CANADA DAY MENU
Soup: Split Pea Soup
App’eh’tizers: Perogies and Poutine
Entre’eh’s: Montreal Steamies and Tourtiere
Desserts: Butter Tarts and Nanaimo Bars

Everyone is encouraged to wear their Canadian colors in whatever way or shape they see fit. How about a tube top, eh? There will also be a poutine eating contest, which means that after the contest the Nuh-Uh Girl will swoop in for leftovers.

I made it to the final table at Silly Goose poker last night but didn’t win. No Monday night appearance by Brick unfortunately.

Time to grab a quick lunch at Zaxby’s and then it’s time for a 2-hour staff meeting at work. Yay. Looking forward to hanging with our new trivia team member tonight.

Friday night there will be a Party for the Cure at Rehab Disco. DJs will include MatthewEss, Scotty B, and Yo! Santos. $7 cover at the door, and funds raised will go toward the funding of Ashley Davis and Angela Ladner’s participation in the San Francisco Susan G. Komen 3-Day for the Cure. Over the course of 3 days, Davis and Ladner will walk 60 miles in support for awareness and fundraising for breast cancer research. Without a cure, one person will die from breast cancer every 13 minutes in the U.S. Party kicks off at 9 PM.

Also on Friday, there will be a Farm to Fork dinner on the rooftop of the Madison Hotel. The dinner menu will include items such as Black Angus beef from Neola Farms, seafood from Paradise Seafood and chicken from West Wind Farms, as well as fresh produce from Tims Family Farm, Ly Vu Family Farms, Mai Home Grown Produce and Fletcher Farm – all accompanied by locally brewed beer from Ghost River Brewery. The meal will conclude with decadent desserts made with peaches from Jones Orchard and honey from Peace Bee Farm. $55 excluding tax and gratuity. This is a fundraiser for Memphis Farmers Market, and 30% of the proceeds will be donated to the market. You can RSVP on their Facebook event page.

I mentioned that the Peabody gives out goodies to people who pay attention to Twitter during rooftop parties. Last Thursday they offered two free drink tickets to the first person to come to the VIP table, flap their arms, and start quacking like a duck. Who was the first to do it? See the video on Otto’s blog. Hint: It’s the same person who usually comes running anytime there’s free stuff.

That’s all I got. Slow news day. Plans for tonight: Pint Nite at the Saucer (should arrive about 6) with almost all drafts only $3. Then I’ll move over to the Silly Goose for poker with Poker Jon and Brick. Maybe Brick will wear a tube top tonight. She’s in for a double dose of harassment at the poker table, as I will likely be joined by Hurricane Zane. With three poker tournament wins under my belt from the weekend, I’m in the mood to extend my streak. Poker starts at 10 PM. You gotta be kind of a bad a$$ to attend a poker night that starts at 10 when you work the next morning, but some of us are and some of us aren’t…

I finally got the South Main night I’ve been wanting for a while. Wandered into Max’s Sports Bar about 8. The bar was a little less busy than usual, and I got a seat, a PBR, and a little blue crack box. What do I mean by “crack box?” Well, it’s the controller for this:

Max’s has the Buzztime game network, and has one TV dedicated to poker and one to trivia (as well as 8 other TVs showing sports). Trivia is always available, and even if no humans are playing poker, you can play against four “bots,” each of whom has a different playing style. I figured I’d take a shot at trivia. Looking at the TV on the right, it’s too bad John D wasn’t there. He would have done very well.

The bartender, Michele, had other ideas. Not long after I asked for a crack box, she said, “Paul, let’s get a 1-hour poker tournament going.” She’s able to use the bar’s master account to set up custom poker tournaments of any length and structure. So we talked 5 more people into playing, and she set the time at 1 hour, starting blinds of 25/50 with stacks of 10,000 chips for each player.

The photo taken above was the first hand of the tournament. I must have had something really bad, because I folded (I play under the handle PROFPR, “Prof” because I used to teach at the U of M). Usually I’m willing to see a flop with most any two cards. The blinds increased every six minutes, moving up to 50/100, 100/200, 300/600, 400/800, 800/1600, 1000/2000 (and higher, but that was the last level we ever reached). I hit some good cards near the end and won the first tournament. “Let’s play another!” Michele said. I busted out in 3rd place in that one, but I came back to win the 3rd and 4th tournaments. I’m pretty happy with the result of winning three of the four, but I have to admit I got lucky! There are some very, very good poker players who hang out at Max’s. A couple of them were giving me so much difficulty post-flop that I wished they’d go down the street and get their eardrums tortured at crappyoke night.

Michele, by the way, is one of the best bartenders ever. Here’s a pic of a PBR she poured me a couple of weeks ago.

Did you know it was possible to fit 17 ounces of beer in a 16 ounce pint glass? I posted this pic to Facebook, and one of the Saucer managers left a comment lecturing about the proper way to pour beer, leaving enough head to get the aroma and all that jazz. Then another bartender, one who has worked at the Saucer and Max’s before, followed up with this comment: “Dude it’s just a PBR.”

A very laid-back evening, good times with good friends. The thing with Max’s is, it’s just about all regulars, and some nights that can be a good thing. And despite the fact that we didn’t have to deal with terrible singing or douchebags in Affliction shirts, we still managed to have two shining examples of tube top dress hotness in the bar (sorry no pics, was busy concentrating on poker).

My only regret is that Max’s is the only stop I made last night. You can actually make an entire itinerary out of South Main on a weekend night. Dinner at Harry’s Detour or 5 Spot, then Max’s Sports Bar, then Earnestine & Hazel’s is a pretty fine plan. If it’s a Friday the Blue Monkey can be an additional stop as well. (Ya know, typing this just made me realize, I’ve never eaten at the 5 Spot. I really need to do something about that soon.)

Plans for today: Majestic, then Saucer. You know, I should write a WordPress plugin that inserts “Plans for today: Majestic, then Saucer” into every post I create on Sundays. Would save me time. Happy day to all the fathers out there.

 

Last night I walked in the Saucer and saw this beautiful sign hanging over the entrance to the bar:

Very happy their corporate office made this decision. Now people will be able to enjoy their beer and food without having to breathe cancer-causing secondhand smoke. People will also be able to come to the Saucer without their hair and clothes stinking to high heaven. I’ve started a few threads on Facebook and Twitter about this, and the response has been nearly entirely positive. Quite a few people (including a few tube top hotties) have said, “I quit coming there because the smoke was so bad, but after July 1 I’ll come back.” Even some smokers have applauded the decision.

But Paul, how am I supposed to drink beer without smoking a cigarette too? I’ve actually had smokers raise this issue. You know what? I’ve had at least 1,000 beers at the Saucer – my purple plate on the wall is testament to that fact – and not one of them was consumed along with a cigarette. You can do it too.

Kudos to Saucer corporate on looking out for the health and well-being of their customers. Yes there will be a few whiners who throw their UFO card on the bar, complain that the place is turning into “Chuck E. Cheese” and walk out never to come back, but you know what? Screw ’em. Can’t wait to have my first smoke-free beer on July 1, and I can’t wait to enjoy my first smoke-free Sunday Fun Day on the thirth, er, third of July.

Rant over. Now, on with the news…

Bar None will host an ’80s party on Saturday, June 25. There will be prizes for the guy and girl who have on the best ’80s costumes.

Speaking of the ’80s, the FedExForum has announced that Journey will play the arena September 14, along with special guests Foreigner and Night Ranger.

Another concert announcement: Alison Krauss and Union Station have been announced for the Orpheum for August 25. Tickets will go on sale at 10 AM next Friday, June 24.

If you’re looking for something to do tomorrow afternoon, bluesman Eric Hughes will play a solo/acoustic set at Superior Bar from noon until 4.

There’s a PlayDate Memphis night tonight at the Doubletree at Third and Union. It’s a public game night – Monopoly, Taboo, chess, Twister, Uno, poker and many more games. $10 cover, food and cocktails, must be 21 to play.

I’m kind of in the mood to go to Max’s Sports Bar and play some Buzztime poker/trivia… think I’ll do that either tonight or tomorrow night. Need to stop by Earnestine & Hazel’s and see Miss Karen as well. Right now, though, gotta grab a quick lunch and prepare for a 2:00 meeting. A few more hours and it’s over for the week.

Just got home from Kooky Canuck’s 6th birthday party. A few pics:

Yeah I forgot to rotate the pic of Nikki’s ass clockwise 90 degrees. Just deal with it. Pick up your monitor and turn it sideways if you’re that concerned about the view. I’m drunk and going to bed now.

Believe it or not, I actually got up early enough to do a post before work this morning! Got a good night’s sleep, visions of tube tops dancing in my head. I’m wide awake now, though, so let’s hit it!

Tonight is one of the biggest Peabody rooftop parties of the summer. Lucero will rock it out, along with indie southern rock band The Bohannons. Buffet (included in price of admission) will be all-American this week, with burger sliders, potato salad, and deviled eggs. The VIP buffet will have hot dogs, baked beans and pasta salad. Cover goes up to $15 this week because of the band. Includes your first drink though. Ladies free til 7. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up. Actually, new pics of the Nuh-Uh Girl eating will probably land on this blog in a day or two, and they won’t be rooftop pics.

Tip: Follow @peabodymemphis and the #pbodyroof hashtag on your phone during rooftop parties. They do giveaways to people who are paying attention. This is why you see the Nuh-Uh Girl checking her phone so often on the rooftop.

Speaking of the Nuh-Uh Girl… I bet she’s been watching a lot of TV lately. You can get free Whoppers at Burger King by watching video of Whoppers.

Big party on the Madison rooftop as well, as Amy LaVere will be playing Sunset Atop the Madison. Doors open at 5:30, sunset at 8:16. $7 cover. Cash bar and tapas menu available.

Congrats to the Grizzlies, who ESPN Magazine ranked the 9th best sports franchise out of 122 in the four major North American leagues (MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL). This is sure quite a turn-around from a year ago, huh?

My friend David the Worm has a new DJ gig: Alternative Nation on Sunday nights at Sky Grille. It’s in the former Quetzal building near Union and Marshall. This is going to be a hard one for me to get to since I start drinking at 11 AM Sundays, but if you’re more of a late-night Sunday person, this is worth checking out.

Fun night last night, and thanks to Bardog Tavern and Budweiser of Memphis for the free Bud. Y’know, I’m an only child, so I don’t know how sibling relationships work. But if there were a free Budweiser event three blocks from my front door, and my brother was a Bud rep, and I only found out about the free beer because I read someone’s blog, I’d be about ready to beat that ass. Just sayin’.

Plans for tonight: Well, I was going to eat Squeal Street BBQ at Shelton Clothiers for the Third Thursday block party, but it looks like those plans may be changed as I help a buddy apartment-hunt. Later tonight I’ll be at a crazy, wacky party thrown by some people from up north. If more news comes in there will be a lunchtime post.

 

EXCELLENT deal on LivingSocial today. $10 for $20 worth of food and drink at Max’s Sports Bar. If you’ve never tried Max’s, now is the time. Sports on 10 TVs, Buzztime trivia and poker, large outdoor deck, friendly regulars. It’s in the Arcade building on G.E. Patterson, next to the Cheesecake Corner. I bet Mikey is mortgaging everything he owns today, to raise funds to purchase as many of these deals as possible.

It’s Wet Your Whistle Wednesday at AutoZone Park tonight. $10 gets you an outfield box ticket to see the Redbirds, a 16 oz. PBR, and a PBR koozie. Game starts at 7:05. Why not wear a red tube top in support of the Redbirds?

From the CA: The French Fort neighborhood (near the Metal Museum) will be a lab in urban design. There will be a workshop for young professionals under 35 Thursday night. Cool deal. For years I’ve thought this neighborhood, just south of Crump, had a lot of potential and would be the next logical extension of Downtown.

From the Huffington Post: A study proved that students with later classes sleep more, but also get drunk more and get lower grades. Really? It was necessary to do a study to prove that? When I was at Rhodes I avoided 8 AM classes like the plague.

Eventful night last night. Met up with Hurricane Zane at the Saucer, then went next door to the Silly Goose for their trivia night. We had entertainment – a guy was passed out on the grass next to the parking garage next to the Goose. While I was on the patio watching his friends trying to get him up, I caught a bum parking cars on the Tri-State Bank lot at Main and Beale. Knowing that this particular bum had been criminally trespassed from the lot, I called the Downtown safety patrol (281-9146). A few minutes later, a police car rolled onto the lot. Busted! If you park on that lot, only give money to someone in an attendant’s uniform or who has an official Premier Parking employment ID.

We merged two teams to become the Deep-Fried Rapscallions, and won the first-place prize of $50. We’re also now among the leaders for the $300 3-month prize that will be awarded at the end of August. After trivia, we walked up the Main Street Mall to Bardog (something interesting happened along the way, but I’m not allowed to blog it). A few more beers at Bardog brought an end to a most enjoyable night.

Plans for tonight: “Buy the Beer, Keep the Glass” night at the Flying Saucer. It’s the Father’s Day glass, featuring “Father of the Year” Charlie Sheen. DUH, WHINING. Glasses go on sale at 7 PM, unless you have an M.O.U. card and can purchase them early. Bardog Tavern posted to Facebook “Be here at 8:30 to get a free Budweiser,” so my nightly Bardog stop will happen around 8. Not playing poker this week, will be upstairs. I LUV me some free beer!

At lunch I posted about the Thursday night Main/Peabody Place block party. Now getting more details about specials particular businesses plan on running. The Majestic Grille sent out an email blast, saying they will have fish tacos and sangria on the patio. Fish tacos! 11 years ago I was eating them on the patio at Pacific Beach Bar & Grill… that was the bar where the cast of Real World San Diego got in a fight. Well, it was one of the bars where they got into a fight. Damn Robin from the San Diego cast looked amazing in a tube top.

Sorry to brag, but I’m really proud of my ability to slip a tube top reference into just about any topic in the world.

Down the Main Street Mall a few doors, Bar None will be grilling chicken and steak skewers. There will also be a small bar serving Bar None Punch, made with Malibu Cherry/Cranberry Rum.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is the beginning of Guess Your Weight Wednesday at Dream Berry Yogurt. Grab your yogurt and your toppings, and then before putting it on the scale, guess its weight (for example, 5.4 oz., or if you’re the Nuh-Uh Girl, 36.9 oz.). If you’re correct within one ounce, you get 50% off.

Our idiotic state legislature and Gov. Haslam have finally done something right! Haslam signed a bill making it legal for liquor stores to hand out samples. Good way to let people try new things and broaden their appreciation for fine liquors! Wonder if CeCe’s on Madison will start handing out samples of Dark Eyes Vodka to the bums.

Christine by Shelton Clothiers has put together a group discount for Memphis the Musical. The seats are in the Orchestra area for the Friday, October 21 show. Bring $79 cash or a check payable to Christine by Shelton Clothiers to the store on or before June 30. Tickets sell for $96 individually. Not only will you get the deal, but an invitation to a “Commit to the Tix” open house on Thursday, June 30 from 5 to 9 PM with wine and hors d’oeuvres.

Melissa Moon from Channel 3 (@melissamoon3) sent out an interesting tweet today: Best Companies for Veterans. The article profiles the 10 companies best known for hiring those with military experience, and this being Flag Day I thought I’d share. The bad news is that none of the companies is in Memphis, but sometimes when opportunity doesn’t find you, you have to go to opportunity.

Plans are still up in the air for tonight… time to shoot out a few texts and figure out where everyone is going. Silly Goose, Ferraro’s and Bardog are the likely candidates.

Actually, it’s not just June any more, but “Memorial Day weekend through July 4 weekend is Tube Top Month” won’t fit on a plate.

Thursday is the third Thursday of the month, which means it will be time for another block party in the Main and Peabody Place area. There will be music by Star & Micey, Blind Mississippi Morris, and the Johnny Yancey trio. Shops and restaurants will have specials and discounts. This is a great way to pre-game before heading to Lucero on the Peabody rooftop, or to another party in the area if you have one to attend. Free to the public, and music starts at 5:30.

Of particular interest at the Third Thursday party: My friends Shelton Clothiers will celebrate their 6th anniversary Downtown. They’re throwing a party to help the recent flood and tornado victims. A minimum $5 donation to the Red Cross gets you award-winning Squeal Street BBQ and Ghost River beer. Squeal Street BBQ? I’ll be there! Not only is their food delicious, but I deeply admire how organized their team was at BBQ Fest. Not everyone can pull that off. There’s a 20% off special at Shelton, and at the women’s store Christine by Shelton Clothiers down the street, for the entire month of June.

More clothing store news: Kerry from the I Love Memphis Blog is teaming up with Lansky at the Peabody to give away a pair of Tom’s shoes to a lucky guy and lucky lady. All you have to do is send a photo of your grossest, grubbiest, worn-out shoes. Details here. Wish I hadn’t thrown away an old pair of sandals earlier this week. They might have won.

The Memphis Flyer has a good article about Johnny G’s Creole Kitchen, the new restaurant on Beale. I want to eat there soon. Friends of mine have been and told me the food is very good (the shrimp po-boy in particular was raved about) and the prices very reasonable. Why do I keep overlooking Beale Street when deciding where to have dinner? Several of its restaurants are not bad at all.

There’s a Wootoff today.

Seen on Twitter this morning: Top Ten Most Annoyingly Misused Homonyms and Non-Words. Yep. Agree with all of those and would add “specific/pacific” to the list. I once was asked to join a professional organization, and was told to “be very pacific” when describing what I do for my job. I didn’t join.

Majestic Grille co-owner Deni Reilly will be on Local Color on WKNO this week, along with event producer Kim Hill and Chris Davis from the Flyer. They will discuss local cocktails and music, and list their favorite signature drinks around town. It will air at 6:30 PM Thursday and 1:30 PM Saturday on WKNO, and 11 PM Thursday on WKNO2. Set your DVRs!

What to do tonight, where to go? It used to be so easy… we’d all meet at the Saucer for trivia. The gang seems to be pretty much done with Saucer trivia, although one of our group has been doing “Saucer trivia” on Twitter the past couple of weeks and it’s been pretty hilarious. Ferraro’s has upped the stakes on their trivia night (starts 8 PM). They’re offering a trial run of their $15 all-you-can-eat pizza and all-you-can-drink PBR deal. $50 to the winning team and a pitcher of PBR to the team with the best name. If there is a 3-way tie for best team name, there will be a dance-off. I’m surprised Saucer management didn’t think of including a dance-off when they revised their trivia night a few months ago.

Then on the other hand, some of my group have been going to trivia at the Silly Goose (also 8 PM). Very much like the old Flying Saucer format (not the current format), and good questions. I wish members of the group would more careful checking into Foursquare though; it attracted unwanted attention last week.

Meanwhile, there are other, non-trivia options as well, including Pint Night at Bardog (all drafts $3, including the most premium draft of all, PBR). Bar None has a tremendous deal, $5 half-yard drafts, tonight. All of these things are good options. Then again, I could stop by the Saucer, and exercise my Master of the Universe powers to get the “DUH, WHINING” glass early. Which option to choose for tonight? We’ll see…

(Edited to add: I knew I forgot to mention something. Tuesday night is steak night at the Downtown Monkey. I won’t be there myself, but friends who went last week praised it. If you like to eat, and you like steak, you should check it out.)