Paul Ryburn's Journal

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!!!

Friday night I was at the Beer-Tron-a-Ton, the computer at the Flying Saucer that records what beers you’ve purchased. I’m down to the last 20 beers toward my fifth plate, and around that point it gets really hard to find anything good left to drink that isn’t massively expensive. I remembered that one of the bartenders had told me I should try RJ Rocker’s Buckwheat (After Dark.) So I printed out a ticket for that one, handed it into the bartender, and they gave me a beer.

Usually I’m not a big fan of dark beers, but this one wasn’t bad. I reasoned that it was the addition of buckwheat as an ingredient, although I really have no idea what buckwheat tastes like. Anytime I drink an unfamiliar craft beer, I like to examine the bottle’s label to see what information I can gather.

Wow. Anyone who’s ever watched episodes of The Little Rascals/Our Gang knows why there are two eyes staring at you on the bottle. It’s a reference to the many times the lights would go out with Buckwheat (pictured above) on the screen. All you could see would be the whites of his eyes. In 1936, when the episode I screen-capped the image above was produced, that kind of racial humor was accepted in society. Putting it on a beer bottle in 2011, though, is an odd choice.

Further examination of the bottle revealed that the beer was brewed in Spartanburg, South Carolina. It figures the Buckwheat After Dark label would come from the heart of the Old South. When I was a corporate trainer in 1999, I taught a couple of week-long classes there, and can confirm that it is every bit as much of a shithole as you might suspect.

Taste of the beer was not bad, but man… I just don’t know about that label. Wonder if they sell it at stores near Ole Miss? Bet it would be a big hit there.

Just got up. Time to catch up with Twitter/Facebook and see what happened last night that I missed. After an excellent dinner at Bangkok Alley, my body was just screaming at me, “You must sleep… NOW.” So I went home and went to bed at 9. If I’m going to waste a Saturday night, I’d rather it would be in January than in a nice-weather month like April or May. Got 11 hours quality sleep and feel like a million dollars now. Bring on Sunday Fun Day!

Every day I check Wikipedia’s main page and read the featured article. Today it happens to be a Memphis article. Congratulations to Temple Israel on being featured.

Last night I had the good fortune to attend the 10th birthday party for the Live from Memphis web site. The party was conveniently located across the street from my building, at site founder Christopher Reyes’ loft. LFM has done an incredible job spotlighting Memphis music and all that is good in this city for the past decade. If you want to know what’s going on, it should definitely be in your bookmarks. Congratulations to Christopher and all who contribute to LFM.

I was going to post about the stuff going on in Egypt, but this is more important.

Bardog Tavern has increased the price of a pint of PBR to $3, as shown on the image above which was texted to me this afternoon. Also note that Yuengling has gone up 50 cents as well, to $4.50.

Still a damn good place to hang out, it’ll just cost you a bit more if you drink certain beers.

Couple of pieces of good news for beer lovers in Memphis. First of all, Ghost River Brewery at Main and Crump is spending $750,000 on an expansion. That will allow them to bottle beers and sell them at retail locations. Pretty soon you’ll be able to pop open a bottle of Ghost River Golden, and people who come to visit from out of town will be able to take some fine Memphis beer home with them.

If you’ve ever thought about brewing your own beer at home, this weekend would be a good time to give it a try. Groupon has a deal with weekend for a $40 beer brewing kit from Midsouth Malts for $20. There are two different kits to choose from.

It’s South Main Trolley Night from 6 to 9 tonight, with many of the galleries and shops on South Main open, and some will put out free appetizers and wine. Couple of insider tips if you go down there:

1) Stop by 431 S. Main, where the Memphis Songwriters Association will have a CD release party at the Memphis Music Foundation headquarters. Live music by local artists, and you’ll be able to buy the new CD full of performances by MSA members. 6-9 PM. Light snacks provided. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

2) If you’re looking for something to do after Trolley Night, check out the Prime Cut Band at the Marmalade Lounge on G.E. Patterson. They perform from 9 to midnight.

Couple of events for the kids tomorrow. First of all, there’s a skateboard competition at Greenlaw Community Center at 190 Mill Avenue. Get the details in this Memphis Daily News article.

Secondly, there’s a dance party tomorrow at the Rumba Room from 2 to 5. Kids 7 and under are invited to come get down to kid-friendly dance tunes at “The Little Disco.” There will be healthy snacks, stroller parking, and changing stations. Adults not allowed unless accompanied by kids 7 and under. $10 adults, $10 kids, free for non-walking infants.

The Grizzlies host the Washington Wizards tomorrow night at the FedExForum. O.J. Mayo will serve the first game of a 10-game suspension for testing positive for over-the-counter substance DHEA. Ironically, tomorrow is O.J. Mayo bobblehead night with an O.J. mini-bobblehead for the first 5,000 fans.

I’ll be out at a couple of parties tonight. Will bring the camera in case anything blog-worthy happens.