Paul Ryburn's Journal

Bar None is the latest Downtown bar to publish details about their Super Bowl party. They’ll have the game on 7 TVs, and specials will include $2.50 pints and $5 half yards of Bud Light, dollar wings, and $3 cheeseburger sliders.

Looks like bars are really rolling out the specials to compete for Super Bowl watching business… we’ve already seen big specials from Kooky Canuck and BB King’s, and the Saucer is doing a bonus Pint Nite. Who else wants to step up with the specials? E-mail ’em to me at paul@paulryburn.com and I’ll post.

Memphis-area Chick-Fil-A stores are giving away free spicy chicken biscuits all day today. A portion of proceeds from today’s sales will benefit MIFA, so stop by. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

Last night several of us who were checked into Foursquare at Kooky Canuck were wondering, “How do we NOT show up when someone searches for a particular venue on Foursquare to see who’s here?” Here’s the answer: Go to http://foursquare.com/settings and under “Your privacy profile,” uncheck the box named “Show me in the ‘Who’s here’ list in the mobile app.” Your Foursquare friends will still see you when they look to see who’s at a venue, but those with whom you are not friends will not. If you need to remove someone as a friend so you will not show up in their venue searches, do it at http://foursquare.com/manage/friends. Keep in mind that if you tweet your checkin, they will still be able to see it if they follow you on Twitter, so you might want to turn off the “send to Twitter” button in those cases.

Tonight I’ll be doing $10 wristband night for the International Blues Challenge quarterfinals. The wristband gets you in 19 clubs to hear blues bands from around the world. It’s a two-block-long buffet of music! Memphis is so fortunate to have the IBC… come on down and take advantage of what your city has to offer!

(Editor’s note: Since one of my readers checks my blog every 6 hours, I’m defying sleep to get this online…)

Tonight after trivia at the Saucer, several of us snuck out to go to Kooky Canuck. As we got there, we saw a guy doing a Kookamonga Challenge, where if you eat a 4 lb. burger, plus about an additional 2 lb. of bun and fixins, you get the burger for free. He was about 45 minutes into it and was almost done. Then they realized he’d ordered the fixins (whole pickle, lettuce, tomato) on the side. They told him if he didn’t want to eat those, he had to eat extra fries which they brought out. So for the last 10 minutes of the 60 minute challenge we watched him roll up “fry balls,” dip them in a pitcher of water, and eat them. He got through it in time and got photographed as a winner with the empty platter.

All my friends wussed out because it was, after all, 10 PM (even John D stayed out until 9), and I went back to the Saucer for 3 more beers. Calling it a night now.

The Redbirds announced a big new perk for their season ticket holders this afternoon. They will become members of the ‘birds’ new Champions Club, and will be able to enjoy an exclusive VIP lounge at the club level. It will be a place to escape the heat on those summer days when the heat index is in the 100s, and more importantly, full members will also get their own personalized mug, which for $2 can be refilled with Coke products, or with BEER. Two dollar beer at AutoZone Park? I bet a lot of Downtowners just got more interested in season tickets.

Club members also get a membership card that gets them access to private autograph sessions, and to discounts at the Redbirds’ store.

Visit the Redbirds’ web site or call 901-722-0299 to get info on becoming a half or full Champions Club member.

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.”