Paul Ryburn's Journal

The Memphis Daily News reports that a permit has been filed for a yogurt shop at 94 S. Main. That would be just south of Union, across the street from Local. Sounds good… a yogurt shop is one of the things missing in our Downtown neighborhood. DowntownMemphis.com posted on Facebook that it will be a Fro-Yo. Before the Nuh-Uh Girl e-mails to ask, no I don’t know if they’ll have a grand opening with free samples.

MemphisTravel.com is giving away a romantic Valentine’s Day weekend getaway in Memphis. Package includes deluxe accommodations for two at the Westin for Saturday night, February 12, with champagne, chocolate-covered strawberries and breakfast; tickets for two for Valentine Pops by the Memphis Symphony Orchestra at the Cannon Center for the 12th; and in-room chocolate gifts from Dinstuhl’s Fine Candy Company. Enter here.

Congratulations to the Grizzlies on getting above .500 last night! Check Sports 56 WHBQ’s site for post-game quotes from Coach Hollins, Mike Conley, Rudy Gay, Marc Gasol, Tony Allen, and Greivis Vasquez.

I’d like to propose legislation banning checkins to “Snowpocalypse 2011” on Foursquare and use of the #snOMG hashtag on Twitter until there is an inch of snow or half an inch of ice on the ground. Tweeting #snOMG when it’s 53 degrees out is kind of ridiculous.

I hate to miss the first night of the International Blues Challenge at the New Daisy, but it’s trivia night. After last week’s disaster – 2 points out of a possible 62 in the second round – it’s obvious our team needs all the help it can get. I’ll still have the rest of the week to enjoy IBC. Thinking about doing $10 wristband night (access to 19 clubs) tomorrow and Thursday.

Be safe and take it slow driving home this afternoon! It’s wet out there!

Today is the beginning of the 27th International Blues Challenge, with musicians around the world competing for cash, prizes, and record contracts. Tonight’s event is at the New Daisy – the FedEx International Showcase. A dozen blues acts from overseas will perform on the stage of the New Daisy, beginning at 6 PM. $10 cover gets you in.

Sorry, I didn’t take a pic. The Cheese Fries at Huey’s are $6.25 and you can get chili for $1 more. Order extra ranch instead of ketchup, because ketchup sucks. You’ll get 3 cups of ranch. You also get a fourth cup, of bacon bits, to distribute over the fries. Do you understand now why I’m recommending this dish?

Invited to a Super Bowl party that is BYOB? No one wants to be “that guy” who shows up empty-handed and then mooches everyone else’s beer. If you’re looking for a place to pick up some cheap beer to bring, don’t forget about the cash & carry at Carolina and Second.

I haven’t been in there in about a year, but when I was there they had a pretty big selection of beer. Prices were good too. I remember seeing a 12-pack of PBR 24 ounce tallboys for about $14.

It’s a CASH & carry, so if you’re the type who normally charges everything on a credit card, you’ll want to hit an ATM before going down there. Also, its hours tend to be a little unusual – last I checked they closed at 3:45 on weekdays and even earlier on Saturdays (is it 2:45 or 11:45? Trying not to confuse it with Lit).

Check it out for cheap beer, and for cheap groceries as well. The candy store across the street is not a bad place to stop either.

Brick wants you to come play poker with her at the Silly Goose, tonight at 10. It’s part of the poker league that also includes Bardog Tavern, Bar None, and the Bayou Bar & Grill. Weekly prizes at each location, and you can accumulate points over an 8-week period to qualify for the final table, where you can play for big prizes.

Brick is shown here dealing the cards last week after she went all in pre-flop with Nine-Deuce. I didn’t ask her reasoning behind the all-in, but I think it was probably something like, “9 plus 2 is 13, and 13 is my lucky number so I went all-in.”

Mondays normally suck, but I’m in a good mood today… just gave a demo of the company Intranet site I’m building with WordPress, and it was well received. The MyCalendar plugin, by the way, is simply awesome.

Let’s get to the news…

I’m starting to get info about Super Bowl parties that will happen Downtown on Sunday. One of those will be at Kooky Canuck, where the game will be shown on 8 TVs with giant projection screen with sound on. $2 34 oz. Bud Light, $2 wells, $11.99 for 24 wings with fries.

B.B. King’s will also have a party with a big projection screen, $2.50 domestic bottles, $3 domestic pints, $3 Alabama Slammers, three domestic bottles and three hot dogs for $10 (add chili $1 per dog), $3 bowls of chili, 35 cent wings, $5 cheese nachos (add chili $2), $2 hot dogs, $3 chili dogs. There will also be a $15 Super Combo with three domestic bottles, hot wings, cat bites, and mini corndogs.

If you know of other Super Bowl parties that are Downtown and open to the public, send the details to paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll post them.

Congratulations to Dyer’s on being named one of the best burgers in the U.S. by Food & Wine magazine. I can’t argue. When I moved Downtown, Dyer’s was the very first meal I had as a resident. Good to see Dyer’s burgers being mentioned in the company of great burgers like California’s In-n-Out Burger.

The Flyer’s Hunrgy Memphis blog interviewed Krista McCracken, sommelier at the Peabody, recently. In the interview, McCracken talks about the new Master Tasters wine club that will meet for the first time Wednesday at the Corner Bar.

Congratulations to Llama Tag on winning the SeedHatchery investment (Edit: Thanks Patrick for the correction) for the best pitch at the 48-Hour Launch event that happened this weekend. Llama Tag is described as a way for you to leave your mark everywhere you go, via social graffiti/augmented reality. Sounds interesting… follow them on Twitter at @llamatag. There are a lot of neat business ideas coming out of Memphis these days.

Pint Nite at the Saucer tonight, most drafts $3… I’m 16 beers away from finishing my 5th plate, and I plan to reduce that number to 13 tonight. The 10:00 poker game at the Silly Goose is possibly on my agenda as well.

Tonight is Downtown Night with the Grizzlies. $59 gets you a $99 club level seat, a Grizzlies gift, food and drink in Opus Restaurant, and mingling with your fellow Downtowners, members of the Grizzlies operational staff, the Grizz Girls, and Grizz the mascot. To get this deal you need to call Carl Rosen at 901-205-1445 before noon today.

If you’re a Downtown resident or supporter, make sure you don’t miss this Commercial Appeal article outlining the strides forward Downtown has made in the past year.

Also don’t miss this article on the skateboarding competition in Uptown yesterday.

When I was recapping what I did Friday night, I forgot that I left out a very important stop: Rehab Disco, where a friend was having a birthday party. While there, JJ took me downstairs to Rockbottom and showed me the new tap wall they have installed. 12 beers on tap, or as I like to think of it, PBR and 11 other beers on tap.

The upstairs part of Rehab is an upscale club, and they’ve been known to draw some nationally and internationally known DJs, as well as the best of our local DJ talent. Downstairs is Rockbottom, more of a locals’ type bar where you can chill out and have conversation with friends.

Good place. I need to spend more time there. To keep up with what’s going on at Rehab, “Like” their Facebook page.

Okay, I’ve caught up with Twitter and Facebook timelines from last night. It looks like a lot of people were dragged to karaoke night at the Blue Monkey, even though they didn’t want to go. If you were one of those people, I have a reminder for you:

JUST SAY NO!!!

It’s nothing against the Monkey, as I’m always quick to point out. Excellent food, service, and atmosphere. It’s just that karaoke sucks. It sucks on a random Tuesday or Wednesday, but the suckitude multiplies by 10 when you realize you’re wasting a Saturday night watching your friends (of both sexes) turn into divas in the presence of alcohol and a microphone.

It is totally, completely acceptable to say, “Well, if you guys want to go there, go ahead, but I’m going somewhere else.” Don’t give in to the will of the majority. If you want to be near your friends, you can hang out at Earnestine & Hazel’s or Max’s Sports bar nearby, and then meet up with them when they are done making fools of themselves. Alternately, you can hop a trolley, slip a dolla in the fare meter, and ride north to the core where you have many more entertainment options.

If John Lennon arises from the dead and goes to the Monkey to sing “Imagine” on a Saturday night, maybe I’ll go. Short of that, karaoke ain’t never going to happen as far as I’m concerned.

JUST SAY NO!!!