Paul Ryburn's Journal

You can tell by the look in her eyes that the Nuh-Uh Girl is very happy about being fed two sliders at Bar None.

Happy birthday to the Nuh-Uh Girl. She’s the honorary duckmaster at the Peabody this afternoon, and will be marching (and hopefully not eating) the ducks at 5.

MIFA has announced that its 12th annual Day of Reflection and Service will be Saturday, April 2. Volunteers can honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. while participating in one of several projects. Options include an artistic board-up project, a neighborhood clean-up project, and mural painting. For the kids, there will be a Kids’ Club project of assembling birthday bags for seniors.

MemphisWeather.net has released its iPhone app. It has live weather from Memphis and Bartlett, live animated StormView radar (two views), forecasts, links, and a link to the @MemphisWeather1 Twitter feed. The 99 cent price tag is a small price to pay for all that Erik has done to provide valuable weather info to the community. “Buy local” has been the mantra the past couple of years; it should extend to apps too.

While you have the iPhone out, take a minute to upgrade to Foursquare 3.0. It offers many more specials than before (when I checked in at work this morning, I saw that there were 19 specials nearby). Business owners and managers need to check out this platform. Lori Turner has an excellent article in the Daily News this morning on how businesses can leverage FourSquare.

You can preorder the new Alcenia’s cookbook on their web site. It tells the story of how owner B.J. Tamayo dealt with her son’s death by cooking, and of course there are recipes. If you’ve never been to Alcenia’s, it’s a soul food restaurant on Main in the Pinch District, and you MUST go.

Opportunity to get a good price on a Downtown condo: Nine units in the One One o’Six condos have been foreclosed on and will be put up for sale on March 30. There’s commercial space available too. The condos are on the Main Street Mall, just south of Union. I have friends who live there and love the building. Good restaurants and shopping only steps away.

Yesterday I got a press release about an organization called Memphis Prom Closet, which provides financially limited teenage girls with prom dresses. Due to their donations, money does not have to stand in the way of girls attending one of the most memorable experience of their lives – senior prom. They are having a Dress Giveaway Party from 1 to 4 PM Saturday, March 26 at Northside High School. It will emulate a dress store and the girls will get etiquette, makeup and hair tips as well. If you want to donate or volunteer, e-mail girltalk.memphis@gmail.com or call 901-213-7648.

A for-profit salvage company apparently made a big mess stripping metal off an old barge, then left the remains in the Wolf River Harbor for the city to clean up. Details here.

Not a lot going on tonight… Grizz play the Knicks at the FedExForum at 7… I’m sure I’ll be out somewhere.

If you’ve ever wondered what the inside of a moose nostril looks like, wonder no more. My camera flash to the rescue.

Thanks to Kooky Canuck for a good time at their Mardi Gras party.

If you’re looking for Fat Tuesday entertainment tonight Downtown, here are a few options:

Felicia Suzanne’s will have a special menu and music tonight. They’ll serve Mardi Gras oysters, crawfish pies, and gumbo, with Louisiana drinks and gumbo.

Kooky Canuck will have $3 Hurricanes, Hand Grenades, and 34 oz. beers. Since it’s “Super Tuesday,” they’ll have their 34 oz. signature drinks for only $5 as well. Cajun menu including shrimp, catfish, and crawfish po-boys, Louisiana catfish over rice, Kick’s Cajun Pasta, seafood gumbo, bread pudding and beignets.

Tonight’s the night that the Flying Saucer will give away the Fat Tire bicycle that has been hanging from the ceiling for the past month. Every time you drink a New Belgium Fat Tire, you get an entry into the drawing. The sign says they will draw the winner at 9 PM, which, knowing the way the Saucer operates, will probably mean more like 10 PM. However, since you must be present to win, better be there by 9 if you want the bike.

The South Main Association is having their Mardi Gras party on the second floor of Beignet Cafe tonight. Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and $1 domestics for members. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

My plans for tonight are yet to be determined… it’s trivia night at the Saucer, but the shenanigans at Kooky sound good enough that I might have to stop by there for a few drinks first, and show up late to trivia. Probably won’t make it to the SMA party due to the threat of rain.

In other news: There’s a Woot-off going on. Happy Mardi Gras everyone!

The Chris Vernon Show, the afternoon drive-time sports talk show on AM 730, is looking for an intern. As Verno notes in his blog, it’s not a paid gig, but it’s a great way to get your foot in the door for a career in radio/media. Plus, Verno and Roser would be fun guys to work with. You’ll also get to work with a guy named Mikey who likes to make life miserable for the bums who panhandle outside the Beale Street studio. Info on how to apply can be found on Verno’s blog.

If you’re Downtown late Thursday afternoon, come by the Peabody for the 5 PM duck march. Downtown’s very own Nuh-Uh Girl will be the honorary Duckmaster for the day.

The Nuh-Uh Girl, shown here on the business end of a cupcake (copyright Air Traffic Mike), celebrates her birthday Thursday. Since she’s a regular at the Peabody’s rooftop parties, they decided to honor her with the Duckmaster-for-a-day title.

If you see her out this week, I’m sure she won’t mind if you buy her some food to say happy birthday. She accepts drinks and beer too.

Last November, while in Savannah for the Geekend conference, I had lunch at Five Guys Burgers & Fries. At the time I rated the burger I had there as one of the best I’d ever tried, up there with In & Out Burger, Dyer’s, Tops Bar-B-Q and Whataburger. Well, Five Guys is coming to Memphis, according to this CA article.

Unfortunately Downtowners will have to drive to Five Guys, for now. The first location is at 1315 Ridgeway and it’s worth the drive. However, they plan to open up as many as seven more location, and Savannah is evidence that they do open in downtown areas. Hope there’s one down the street by the end of 2011.

File this in the “random cool event I found while surfing Facebook yesterday” file… there will be an event called “The Hidden Art II” at the Rumba Room, 303 S. Main, this Saturday from 7:00 to 8:30. It’s presented by The Dancing Fire, a troupe of belly dancers/fire performers “in the Cirque style of entertainment.” Here’s their summary of this event, quoted from Facebook:

“Saturday night, March 12th, finds this ensemble in downtown Memphis at the Rumba Room. ‘The Hidden Art II’ is a show of belly dancers, fire dancers, circus style performers, manipulating fire with staves, hoops and poi on fire. All the while these dramatic performers are practicing their craft, add to the mix continuous DJ music from all around the world and live drummers and you have an evening that is both a departure from the usual and exciting!”

Doors at 6:30, show at 7:30. “Like” The Dancing Fire on Facebook here.

I saw on Kerry’s blog this morning that Earnestine & Hazel’s is now giving tours of their haunted bar Thursday-Sunday nights. Call 901-523-9754 to make reservations.

Big game Thursday evening: Arkansas plays Tennessee in the first round of the SEC tourney. I’m in the process of verifying that Max’s Sports Bar will have the game on. If they will, that’s where I’ll be. Game at 6:30 Thursday. Go Hogs!

Quiet day at work today… most of the managers have left for a board meeting and then a national tournament that starts later this week. That reminds me, need to make this announcement: I’m on call during national tournaments, so I have to take it easy this weekend. I’m not saying I won’t go out and drink at all, because I will, but I have to be able to get home, log into a computer and move files around if things get messed up. No shots for me this weekend, just beer. Maybe shots once we get to the wee hours and I’m confident the tournament is over for the night…

Just beer tonight too. Pint Nite at the Saucer, of course. It’s also trivia night at Bar None, Huey’s and the Blue Monkey; poker night at the Silly Goose; half off wine and pizza at Spindini; Grizzlies host the OKC Thunder at the FedExForum at 7.

So, let’s say you’re Mikey, pictured above playing Buzztime Poker. You tell everyone you meet that Max’s Sports Bar is the best sports bar in Memphis. You spend so much time there that you earned a trophy for attendance. You’ve consumed your own weight in PBR there. What kind of VIP treatment do you get?

You get your place reserved at the bar.

And, unfortunately, you get your name misspelled. “Mickey.”

I asked him if the malt liquor Mickey’s Big Mouth was named after him. “If it’s not, it should be.” The response was an evil glare Mikey normally reserves only for the panhandlers on Beale Street.

In other Max’s news, there will be a “buy the beer, keep the glass” party on Saturday with $4 Stella. Details below:

That’s right in the middle of SEC Tournament Saturday and there should be a lot of good games on. Stella makes some of the nicest beer glasses around, and they’re worth collecting. I have a set of four at home. Should be a fun Saturday at Max’s.