Paul Ryburn's Journal

If you’re wondering where the world is heading with all the recent international developments, you may be interested in an upcoming talk at Rhodes. Downtowner and Rhodes professor Jennifer Dabbs Sciubba will discuss her new book The Future Faces of War: Population and National Security. She will talk about how recent events in the Middle East, developments in China’s population, and population aging in Europe will affect national security. After the talk, there will be a reception, and she’ll be available to sign copies of the book. It will be at the Blount Auditorium in Buckman Hall at Rhodes, at 7 PM Monday, February 21.

Okay, I promised an after-work treat, and I’m ready to deliver.

Last night, several of the lovely ladies who are regulars at Max’s Sports Bar decided to celebrate Valentine’s Day by putting on tube tops and tube top dresses. Here’s a pic.

Yeah, I know, I should hold this pic until Tube Top Month begins. But you know what? I make the rules around here, and I can break the rules around here. Enjoy Tube Top Tuesday.

This morning, after I posted that Dynaflow is playing Earnestine & Hazel’s Thursday, I got an e-mail from a friend who lives nearby. He told me Karen, the regular downstairs bartender who has been an E&H fixture for years, recently had a heart stint put in and will be off work for several weeks. She’s still being paid her salary, but, of course, most of her income comes from tips. If you make it to E&H this weekend, either for Dynaflow or just to hang out, please consider showing some love for Karen and leaving a donation. She’s good people.

Great post from Kerry this morning about the Grizzlies Super Fans. These fans receive free club-level season passes in exchange for attending every game, wearing the bear, and cheering their lungs out. They’re auditioning for 10 more Super Fans at the February 26 game. If you love the Grizz, come out and show ’em what you’ve got!

One of Romania’s two claims to fame is that it’s Hackerville Central, according to WIRED magazine. The other claim to fame, of course, is that the women there are really hot.

Two of my friends in the Downtown real estate biz are giving away iPads. You do business with them, you get an iPad at closing (restrictions apply). Details here. I know Jason and Mike personally and they’re good guys.

So, I have a media pass to the Folk Alliance Conference this week. Trying to figure out what to wear. I’m not sure how to dress like a folk musician… then again, since I’m media, I suppose I should try to dress in a way that best represents my company. That company would be paulryburn.com. Guess I’ll wear the “I Love Romanian Girls” T-shirt then.

Trivia tonight at the Saucer, 7 PM. I’ve spent considerable time this week taking mind-reading courses, and I’ve successfully downloaded 17 of tonight’s 21 questions from Pete the Trivia Guy’s mind. I hope to get the other four by tonight. Drink New Belgium Fat Tire ($3 Fire Sale today) and earn chances to win the Fat Tire bike hanging in the corner.

Check back in the PM hours… got a treat for you.

Looking for something to do Thursday? Come check out Dynaflow at Earnestine & Hazel’s. Here’s a link to a review I wrote of a show they played at E&H last year.

Last year at Hot Wing Fest, there were a couple of pics taken that someone didn’t want posted:

I usually try to honor requests for photos to be left off the blog, but sometimes I’m so overwhelmed that I forget what I promised.

Home a little after midnight eating a delicious shrimp po’boy, made buffalo style, from Huey’s. With ranch, rather than ketchup, for french fry dipping. Ketchup sucks.

So, it’s Valentine’s Day. I’m guessing many of my readers have not made advance plans, and have come to my blog looking for a suggestion where to take their sweetheart tonight. No problem, gotcha covered.

My top recommendation would be to take her to Pint Nite at the Flying Saucer. She can pick from about 65 of the 70 draft beers on tap, and it will only set you back 3 bucks a glass. Enjoy a romantic evening over pints of Abita Turbo Dog or Dogfish Head Chicory Stout. When she gets up to use the restroom, you’ll have a couple free minutes to check out the Beer Goddesses. They have Wi-Fi, so if you get bored talking to her, you’ll have a fast connection to check out Facebook on your phone, or download a new game or two.

“Well, that’s great, Paul, but I need to take her to dinner, too,” you may reply. No problem, the Saucer has many options. You could start by splitting an order of Rocket Tots, which are tater tots injected with jalapenos and cheese. Then you could share a Brat-on-a-Bun, eating it on each end and meeting in the middle for a romantic kiss, like those dogs did in Lady and the Tramp. I think that’s the movie I was thinking of. Except the dogs did it with spaghetti, not bratwurst. The Saucer has many other culinary delights on the menu for her to choose from, as well. Like hot wings.

Now, suppose you want to give her something more permanent than just dinner and some beers. No problem. Get her one of the Saucer’s UFO Club memberships ($18). She’ll get a snazzy new “Beerknurd 2011” T-shirt and a UFO Club member card. She’ll think of you every time she scans her card in the Beer-Tron-a-Ton computer as she purchases beers to get her plate on the wall, or every time she shows the card to beat the $3 cover they charge on the weekends. What better way to create for yourself a lasting spot in her heart?

Yeah I guess you COULD take her to Chez Phillippe or Felicia Suzanne’s, but would either of those places really offer all that I’ve outlined above? Don’t do what everyone else does for V-Day. Think outside of the box. Think Pint Nite.

The CCC has a cool new web site called Park and Play Downtown. If you’re coming Downtown, type the name of your destination into the search box, and the site will pinpoint it on a map. It will show you what parking options are nearby (denoted by the letter P in a circle). Clicking on any of the parking options will bring up additional info, such as fee, number of spaces, whether it’s covered, and daily/monthly rate. Very helpful for people coming down here from other parts of the city, or who are in town for vacation/business.

If you don’t have a particular destination in mind, or you don’t know the exact name of your destination, that’s okay too. You can request the search engine to show all hotels, stores, or attractions. Kudos to the CCC for a very nifty tool.

A Memphis startup is up for an award, and this time it’s not a tech company. Carson Rotisseries, which sells grills that let you bring the Brazilian-style grilling experience to your backyard, is in the voting for the 2011 BBQ & Grilling 2011 Readers’ Choice Award on about.com. I’ve had the pleasure of sampling fare from a Carson grill a couple of times, once at a party on my building’s rooftop, and once at Hot Wing Fest. I’ll tell you, Carson-grilled meat can hold its own with any restaurant down here. Good stuff. Good luck to Carson – in my opinion they deserve to win.

If you have an Android phone, here’s an article on how to double Android battery life.

Good article in the CA this morning about plans to turn the Crosstown Sears building into an artists’ community. The building has been vacant since the early ’90s and this sounds like a perfect use. To the organizers of this project: If there’s anything I can do with this blog to help get the word out and build support, please just ask. You can “Like” Crosstown Arts on Facebook if you support this project too.

Looks like Algeria will be next to replace a government with social-media-led revolution. This year is going to be to Africa and the Middle East what 1848 was to Europe. Anyone wonder what would’ve happened if we’d left Saddam alone? This would likely have been the year his own people brought him down.

Congratulations to my friends Air Traffic Mike and Christine on their new addition to the family.

Excellent win by the Tigers yesterday. I don’t know if Tarik Black has an NBA career ahead of him, but I can tell he’s going to be very successful in life no matter what he does. He just has the character. And he’s only a freshman. Antonio Barton impresses me a lot too.

Rather boring night last night. I kept hearing some of my friends go on and on about how “everyone” was going to karaoke at the Monkey, but I searched for it on Foursquare about midnight last night and only 5 people were checked in. (By comparison, Max’s Sports Bar can hit the teens in checkins when a Tiger game is on TV, and the Saucer sometimes hits the teens on Sunday Fun Day.) Really, I don’t care if Pavarotti himself shows up to sing (he still alive? hell if I know), karaoke is not something I’m at all interested in attending on a Saturday night.

Stuff going on today: There’s a Memphis Songwriters Storyteller show at Escape Alley Sundry, starting at 2 PM with many artists participating and only a $2 cover; the “We (Heart Uptown)” event happens at BRIDGES at 3; the Grizzlies play the Denver Nuggets at 5 at the FedExForum. Memphis Jazz Orchestra has an open practice at Alfred’s every Sunday from 6 to 9; Memphis Soul Revue plays Huey’s at 8:30; and FreeWorld has their weekly Sunday night gig at Blues City at 10:30 PM.

Up early, getting ready for brunch at the Majestic. Sunday Fun Day should be extra fun, as there won’t be a bad seat at the bar. Interesting conversation, plenty of space. Looks to be an excellent day!

I decided to walk down the Main Street Mall to City Market to grab lunch. I figured I’d bring the netbook and camera cord with me, and blog as I eat.

Weather is beautiful. I wore a hoodie and shorts down here. I’ve seen a couple of people walk by in short sleeves. What I’d really like to see is a tube top, although it’s a little early in the season to expect one.

Yesterday when I was writing my lunchtime update, I hit the DowntownMemphis.com events page to see what was going on. I saw an event named Party on Patterson, to happen on G.E. Patterson between 2 and sunset yesterday.

Now, a couple of things struck me as strange about this event. First of all, most of it was to happen on a Friday afternoon, when most of the people who would attend the event would still be at work.

Secondly, I found it strange that I hadn’t heard about it. South Mainers have a very tight-knit community. Usually, any event they have, whether as large as RiverArtsFest or as small as Downtown Olympics, gets very well promoted by the people who live there. I usually get multiple requests saying, “Paul, will you mention (event name) again?” So I found it weird that none of my South Main friends had mentioned it.

Still, the event was mentioned on DowntownMemphis.com, which is one of my more credible sources. Credibility was enhanced by the fact that the event had its own website, with registered domain name. So I posted it, and went to lunch at Arby’s.

I came back to find a message from one of the business owners on the very block of G.E. Patterson where the party was supposedly taking place. It was the first she’d heard of the party, too. Very, very odd. She told me that the street was not blocked off for the event, and traffic was flowing as usual. I corrected it on my blog.

Then a couple of hours later I got a text from a friend who lives in the area, saying “Paul don’t bother to come down here. Nothing is on the street.” So I didn’t.

What is going on with this event? Did it actually happen at all? Were there specials at any of the businesses listed as participating on the website? Or was this a hoax like the Union Street Bath House was? If this is indeed a monthly event, I’m going to need to see proof that they have their act together before I bother to tell my readers about it again. I apologize to anyone who read about this party, went down there and was disappointed.

Stuff going on today: There’s a Valentine’s concert at the Cannon Center, the Tigers play Southern Miss at the FedExForum at 5, and there’s a “Purple Party” fundraiser against bullying at Spectrum, which is the building many of us know as Six-1-Six on Marshall. Tennessee plays Florida at 5 on ESPN, to which I say CHOMP CHOMP.

Just found that the complete program for tonight’s Tiger game is viewable/downloadable here. Pretty cool.

Slow morning here… cleaning, chugging Mountain Dew Throwback, taking notes on the poker video training site I subscribe to. Man, video really kills the MacBook’s battery. Putting a plan together to start a #MemphisHatesKaraoke hashtag on Twitter to speak out against a bad habit some of my friends have. Need to go eat lunch somewhere. May post again later. Will probably show up at the Saucer around 5 to watch the Tigers game on TV.