Paul Ryburn's Journal

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.

Most people know I’m not normally a fan of karaoke. I recently commented that I will never attend the Saturday crappyoke night that some of my friends go to, even if offered free PBR for life.

However, I will admit that karaoke is OK when the Grizzlies are involved. Friday night they had a halftime karaoke contest, and Stephanie, pictured below, who will do pretty much anything for free Grizzlies tickets, won.

Stephanie is holding the big bag of Grizzlies merchandise she got for her victory. Ironically, she doesn’t like karaoke much more than I do, but again, she’s willing to overlook it when free Grizzlies stuff is on the line. Congratulations to Stephanie on her win.

(Anyone get video of her singing? If so, wanna stick it on YouTube and send me a link?)

I’ve been asked to post a list of all the festivals that will happen Downtown this spring, with dates. Here ya go.

Saturday, March 26
River City Brewers Festival
Handy Park at Third and Beale
Two sessions, noon-4 and 6-10; $30 per session

Sunday, April 10
Beale Street Wine Race
Beale Street and Handy Park; free

Saturday, April 16
Southern Hot Wing Festival
Main Street between G.E. Patterson and St. Paul

Memphis Brewfest
AutoZone Park
4-7:30 PM; tickets $36 before April 9, $39 after

Sunday, April 17
Rajun Cajun Crawfish Fest
Wagner Street between Union and Beale

Friday-Sunday, April 29-May 1
Memphis in May Beale Street Music Fest
Tom Lee Park

Thursday-Saturday, May 12-14
Memphis in May BBQ Fest
Tom Lee Park

Saturday, May 28
Sunset Symphony
Tom Lee Park

And although it’s not a Downtown event, a lot of Downtowners attend Memphis Italian Fest, which will be June 2-4.

If I missed anything let me know…

I’m now free to post more details about the web designer/developer position mentioned in yesterday evening’s post. It’s with the Grizzlies.

Details here.

Basically, it involves web design (HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, MySQL, content management systems), but you’d be working within a marketing department, so you’d be applying it to do a lot of cool projects. This position sounds almost identical to the one I have at my company, and I can tell you, there’s constant opportunity to learn new things and grow your career.

If you know anyone who would be interested, please show them this post. Thanks!

A new fitness center, Klein Fitness, will open at 338 S. Main. Opening night will be Trolley Night on the 25th. The MBJ has the details.

I’ve heard that a job similar to mine may be coming open at a well-known Memphis company (not my company)… Web designer, but in a Marketing department where the successful candidate would be as much of an idea person as a developer. Shoot an e-mail to paul@paulryburn.com if you’re interested and I’ll tell you what I’ve heard. Can’t divulge the company name, but can get a resume to those on the inside.

The lineup for Music Fest ’11 was announced today. Chris Herrington of the Memphis Flyer has an excellent breakdown, day by day, stage by stage.

Memphis Connect has an excellent video of Shawn and Lana Danko, owners of Kooky Canuck, discussing why Memphis is a great place to start a business. The article hints that there may be more Kookys soon. Wouldn’t mind seeing one in Southaven to visit on my lunch breaks. Would have to refrain from the 34 oz. beers though…

Local wrestling legend is scheduled Jerry “The King” Lawler is booked for a match at WrestleMania for the first time ever, against fellow announcer Michael Cole. On Monday Cole announced that wrestler Jack Swagger would be in his corner. Well, it looks like the King may be about to even the odds. According to a tweet Hulk Hogan made, his buddy Jimmy “Mouth of the South” Hart is on his way back to WWE to manage Lawler. I hope that turns out to be true… would love to see Lawler reunited with his sometime manager/sometime nemesis.

It’s a nice night for a walk. I think I’ll walk down to Max’s Sports Bar and see if I can win another gift certificate at their poker night. Afterward, will stop by the Saucer for a little while.