Paul Ryburn's Journal

Tuesdays at Rockbottom, in the basement of Rehab Disco on Front Street, are about to get good. Starting tonight, every Tuesday at 10 PM they will have a DJ playing ’80s retro tunes. They will also have drink specials, including $3 lemon drop and pink lemondade shooters, and $1 PBR.

Let me repeat that. DOLLAR PBR.

Hmmm I may have a new after-trivia stop from now on Tuesday nights.

A Downtown dance studio for children has a shot at a $10,000 grant and they need your help. Watoto de Afrika, located at 55 S. Main, is one of ten finalists for the “Community Champion Award” from General Mills for their 25 years of work with inner-city youth. Watoto de Afrika shares music with children in the hopes that they will develop an appreciation for their cultural heritage, as well as their own individual musical expressions. Please take a moment to go here to vote for Watoto de Afrika to receive the grant.

The Memphis Business Journal reports that a group of investors is working to open the old Plush Club building at Fourth and Beale with a totally new concept. They hope to call it Marley’s Restaurant and they are negotiating with the family of Bob Marley for the use of the name. During the daytime it will be a family-friendly restaurant. They will have Caribbean and reggae bands, and after 10 PM it will be 25 and up. They want to make sure that the club never again becomes the nuisance it has been in recent years. Any plan to re-open in that space must be approved by the Attorney General, who took steps to close down the Plush Club earlier this year.

Rocky Horror Picture Show is this Friday at the Orpheum. I went last year and it was a LOT of fun, and yes there were squirt guns, rolls of toilet paper, cards, and all the other accessories that are part of acting along with the movie. If you haven’t done this, you should check it out. Unfortunately I wasn’t aware of Rocky Horror when the trivia team booked our party for that night. Guess I’ll have to wait until 2011 to do the Time Warp again. Damn it, Janet!

The Saucer has decided to put Abita Turbo Dog on $2.75 Fire Sale today. If you’ve ever wondered what the oil spill in the Gulf tastes like, get a Turbo Dog and you’ll have a good idea. On the other hand, if you want a good beer at a reasonable price, it’s $3 Pint Night from 7 to close a few blocks away at Bardog Tavern. Your choice of ten premium drafts (well, really, nine and PBR) for $3.

I had a meeting with some Grizzlies marketing people and some other Downtowners last night. Can’t give details yet, but it looks like a very cool event is being put together for a night this fall. Stay tuned.

Day 4 of the black Elvis hair and the old blond color is starting to show through in places. I don’t have time to dye it again until Saturday. It may look really craptacular by then.

Time for a Target run and then lunch. I’ll be at trivia tonight at 7 at the Saucer, although I won’t be drinking the Fire Sale.

One of the good things about the Elvis pub crawl last weekend was that I got to meet people I knew from Twitter, but had never met face to face. One of my Twitter friends suggested a blog topic while we were stumbling in our Elvis costumes.

“Bartenders aren’t very nice to customers ordering water,” she said. “They don’t give the same friendly service they do to customers ordering drinks.”

On one hand, that makes some sense… water is free. Since people usually tip on a percentage of their order, most people don’t tip when they get a water, even though the bartender has to do the same amount of work as they would pouring a beer.

However, my new friend pointed out, people drinking water is a big part of what keeps the bar business going. She was designated driver for her friend, so she was doing what she needed to do to keep both of them safe.

There are also people who drive to a bar, drink a few beers, and then drink a few waters to sober up before they drive home. Seems like they should be encouraged to stick around and drink those waters. If they don’t, they might get a DUI on the way home, in which case they’re probably not going to be coming back to the bar for more beers in the future.

So, we stumbled on to our next stop. I ordered a beer, and the bartender poured it and smiled and said, “There you go. Need anything else?” Then my friend ordered a water, and the same bartender poured it and slung it at her without a word. “All I ask for is a little eye contact,” my friend said.

Just something to think about, for those in the service industry. Water drinkers are people too.

A rare day when I do three posts on a lunch break. After typing the last post, I realized it’s Monday, and there’s a good Monday deal I’ve never mentioned on my blog. Every Monday night, Spindini has half price pizzas and bottles of wine. If you’ve been wanting to try their pizzas, this is a good night to do it.

Got a question from a reader that maybe someone can answer. He and his wife want to come to Downtown Memphis the first weekend in September. That weekend happens to be kick-off weekend for SEC football, and they’re die-hard Alabama fans. The game is pay-per-view only. Is there any place Downtown that will be showing it? Shoot me an e-mail to paul@paulryburn.com if you know of a place, and I’ll pass it on (and blog it too).

Over the weekend I saw a lot of celebration on Facebook that the “Dislike” button is finally here. However, this article on Mashable says that the Dislike button is a scam. If it were an official Facebook button, it would have simply shown up on your profile, and there would be no need to go through an installation.

Yesterday was the night of the Stumbling Elvis Downtown pub crawl to raise canned good and monetary donations for the Mid-South Food Bank.  We had a slightly bigger crowd than last year – someone counted 83 at our second stop, I think.

So yesterday afternoon I prepared.  I got my costume out of the closet and attempted to get the wrinkles out.  I located my Elvis sunglasses.  Then I made the addition to my costume that I discussed yesterday:  I dyed my hair black.  Permanent dye, so it will be black for a while.   People started tweeting and Facebooking pics as soon as I went out.  So yesterday I was Elvis.  Today the pub crawl is over and I still have black hair.  Maybe I’ll be Goth Paul or something.  Meh. Over the fall I’ll gradually return my hair to its normal color.

I have a bone to pick with Elvis:  Why did you have to die in the middle of August?  I had on the most comfortable Elvis costume available (meaning, the cheapest and therefore the thinnest material) and I thought I was going to die of heat stroke.  I don’t know how the people in the high-dollar polyester costumes survived.

So we started at the Saucer, and at 7:45 we marched to Blue Fin.  I have to say, Blue Fin was my favorite stop on the pub crawl.  They had $2 Yuengling and Sapporo waiting for us on the patio.  Nice!  We got invited to the back party room, where there was a birthday party going on.  Six of us sang “happy birthday” to the birthday girl.

Then we found a bachelorette party in the next room, and also one outside in the main room.  We sang “don’t get married” to the tune of “happy birthday.”  It was a lot of fun being the center of attention.  To the bachelorettes:  Take the message seriously though.

Next stop was the Peabody lobby.  We posed with a groom and his groomsmen who’d just got married, and numerous other people who wanted pics.  I don’t think the Peabody was as happy to have us as Blue Fin was.  Shortly after we arrived, several security men in coats and ties appeared, watching us.  Frankly I was happy to get out of there anyway, as the prices at the lobby bar are way too high.

The original plan was to do Alfred’s next, but they changed things up and made Silky O’Sullivan’s the next stop.  We had to pass through security on Beale and get wanded for weapons, which some people grumbled about but I didn’t mind at all.  I’m glad they’re keeping us safe.  We stopped to pose for what seemed like a million photos as we walked toward Silky’s.

I got a Hurricane and went to the outdoor patio.  Odd to choose the patio over inside where there was A/C, but on the patio we had enough room to move around.  Plus there was a band out there.  I looked to my right and saw that another group of Elvii were sharing a Diver.  Nice job on that.

One of the people sharing the Diver commented, “I know you from Twitter.”  It’s weird that I’m starting to get that, people knowing me from Twitter rather than my blog.  I tweet fairly regularly but I’m not that good.  The only two times I’ve ever really been on fire on Twitter were BBQ Fest and my recent NOLA trip.

About 9:45 some of the crew commented “We’re heading south,” some to Calhoun’s and some to the Blue Monkey for karaoke night.  I have to admit it’s a bit irritating that the South Mainers in our group can’t seem to hang out in the core past 10 on weekends, 8 on weekdays before deciding to “head south.”  Nothing against the Blue Monkey, but I cannot think of a bigger waste of a Saturday night than karaoke.  I’d hang out at the Fox & Hound Cordova before I’d go there.

The remainder of the crew carried on to Alfred’s, stopping to pose for another bazillion pictures on the way.  Mike T, Bicycle Bobby and I went upstairs and hung out at the rail of the patio.  People on Beale saw us and started taking pics.  That was fun – one of us would see a camera out of the corner of our eye, and point it out to the other two and we’d pose.  Someone played “Suspicious Minds” and we broke out the worst rendition of the song ever.

Last stop was the Saucer.  Most of the people on the pub crawl didn’t make it back, because of the heat.  The Saucer’s A/C is out in the Garden, and the A/C in the indoor room is not powerful enough to keep it comfortable when the heat index is 105+ and the room is filled with bodies.  I have a little more sympathy since I learned it’s not their fault – their hands are tied as they wait on their landlord to fix the air.  Still, though, I know it kept people away.

By 11:30 it was down to just Bicycle Bobby and me.  Then he rode his bike home, to Mud Island, in his Elvis costume.  I decided to hang out in the Garden and watch the show – not so much the band that was playing, but the show that was occurring on one of the benches, involving a certain redhead.

Good times.  One thing I did not do last night was take photos.  It’s hard to get items out of an Elvis costume pocket, especially when holding a beer.  I was asked to take a pic very early on in the evening and spilled half my beer, and at that time I determined I’d leave the photos to other people.  If someone wants to send me five or six of the best ones (note – five or six, not 50 or 60) and give me permission to post them, I will.  Shoot ’em to paul@paulryburn.com.

Now it’s Sunday and the beginning of approximately 100 explanations why I have black hair.  That’s not a bad thing though, as I’ll get to mention the Food Bank many, many times.

Hmmm.  Up early enough to make it to brunch.  Not really hungry though.  In any event, I’ll be at the Saucer at noon to get the beer drinking started.

Circa just posted the following to Facebook:

“Come show your support for the beef on the front lines. Gorgonzola Filet wrapped with bacon, mashed potatoes and truffle demi glace is what every young bovine aspires to be.”

PETA probably would not approve of this message.  I, however, wholeheartedly approve.

I just made the first post to my poker blog in a while.  The story of my bad beat Thursday night at Calhoun’s, when my full house lost to a bigger full house, was too good not to be shared.  Check it out here.

If you’re a fan of roller derby, or if you’re curious about the sport, there’s a doubleheader today at the Pipkin building on the fairgrounds.  Doors open at 5, first match at 6.  $10 to get in, $5 for kids and there will be beer and Chuck’s BBQ.  After the second match, there will be a party Downtown in Rockbottom, the downstairs bar inside Rehab Disco on Front Street.