Paul Ryburn's Journal

The Plush Club, the nuisance at 380 Beale which has been the scene of shootings, assaults on police officers, and 100-person brawls in recent years, may soon be gone.  The owner of the building has filed suit to shut down the club, saying that he’s had enough.  “We are not in the mood to put up with that kind of thing,” he said.  FANTASTIC.  More details here.

I just saw breaking news on Twitter that the CCC’s board has voted to approve Paul Morris as the new president and CEO of the Center City Commission, taking over from outgoing Jeff Sanford.

I am THRILLED… absolutely SUPERB choice.  I’ve known Paul for about seven years, five of which he was my across-the-hall neighbor at Number 10.  Paul is someone with a vision for Downtown, he’s a listener, and he’s fair.  Downtown will do well with Paul at the helm of the CCC.

Congratulations, Paul.

Congratulations to Brent and Holliday Flowers, designers of our Ques Brothers booth.  The judges came by at 11 AM yesterday to have a look, and we were told the Tunisian judge in particular was impressed with the booth’s authenticity.  At 8 PM the awards were announced, and we brought home a second-place trophy.  Congrats to Brent on a beautiful booth, and wherever we display that trophy, be sure to save room for a BBQ trophy to go next to it.  Here are some highlights from yesterday.

We wanted our cooks to take it easy yesterday, so we brought in special guest cook Air Traffic Mike.

Our camel looking out the window

“She’s so cute, it almost makes me want one for myself,” commented Clay.

Uncle Ray

When nature calls, you have to answer.

Head of security Lee getting the guest list in order

OttoMom and OttoDad

The team bringing back a delivery

Tube top

Best Booth second place trophy

Terry and friend getting down

SWEET Mello Yello VW Bus that was parked outside the Beale Street entrance

Complete album (192 pics) here. Whew.  I am worn out.  My feet are already aching and I have two days left to go.  It’s 9 AM as I type this.  Time to throw my Ques Brothers team shirt in the laundry, take a shower, recharge the camera and iPhone batteries, go through the 119 new e-mails in my Inbox, and do whatever other pre-BBQ Fest things need to be done.  Saucer at 11, BBQ Fest at 11:30.  If I have time before 11 I’ll do another post.

BBQ Fest kicked off last night with Friends & Family Night.  Here are some pics from the Ques Brothers booth.

Booth facade

Fountain that is part of our hopefully award-winning booth facade.  Moody, who was in charge of security last night, didn’t seem to appreciate me referring to it as “the urinal.”

Terry and Boo getting down at the bar

The dining room

The grill

Erin, setting the standard for BBQ Fest fashion

The Nuh-Uh Girl goes crazy when she sees food

Another pic of the Nuh-Uh Girl eating

BBQ pizza

Mikey getting a beer

Aaron and Brenta

BBQ baloney

Hunter tries to convince Frank to wait until after the booth judging today to make love to the camel.

Our team sign has never looked so good.

Complete photo album (about 130 pics) here. Also, make sure you scroll down and check out the previous post, where our inspirational leader/father figure sings us a song.

Great vibe in the booth last night, especially for the last hour.  Whoever picked the music (I think it may have been Otto) did a great job.  People were dancing and singing along.  Good to see that on the first night – I think good things are in store for the next three days.

Went to the Saucer afterward, which SUCKED – the place was filled with rude corporate turds who stood right in the middle of the aisle and didn’t care that they were in people’s way.  I’m trying to verify that they were with the company I think they’re with.  If they are I’m going to call the company’s office and complain about how rude they were and how poorly they represent the company.  I ended up going to the Silly Goose, where I drank PBR and had a long conversation with Brick.  You know, Brick is actually smarter than people give her credit for.  She misses her regulars… please go by the Goose and see her.

Time to shower and get ready for the first day BBQ Fest is open to the public.  Booth judging is this morning at 11, and I want to be out of the way for that, so I’ll do a quick beer at the Saucer to start, then head down about 11:30.  Ms. Piggie Idol is at 6, booth awards at 8.  If you’re coming down, they let you in at lunchtime for free (can’t remember if it’s 1 or 2 when they start charging).

I’ll be commenting/snarking all day on Twitter.  Follow me at @paulryburn to keep up.

Today I went to Court Square, where Pete the Trivia Guy was doing Memphis trivia for the CCC’s Downtown Alive! program.  There were three rounds, each with a prize of $25 in Saucer bucks to the top finisher, plus a $100 Saucer bucks prize for first overall.  Here’s a pic of Pete at Court Square.

The results:  I won round 1, round 2, and the overall prize (via tiebreaker), becoming $150 richer in Saucer beer money.  It will be put to good use, believe me!

Here are some more pics from last night and today.

Brick working at the Silly Goose last night.  She had on an outfit that didn’t show any ass.  Booooo!!!

The Stepbrothers in their final performance at the Silly Goose

Sign on Kooky Canuck’s door.  The Sunday before Memorial Day is not a school night for most of us, and Kooky will help get the party started with 99 cent beer.

Need a ride to The Pony?  The Southeast Memphis strip club has had a BBQ-themed shuttle on the streets of Downtown this weekend.

Earlier this afternoon, I was holding down the fort at the Saucer, and one of my BBQ teammates called.  She thought she left a satchel there last night, and wanted me to retrieve it.  Turns out she left it somewhere else, but that is an illustration of why it’s so important that I be at the Saucer to keep things under control while the rest of the team builds the booth at Tom Lee Park.  You never know what might come up.

Less than 2 hours until the gates open for Friends & Family Night.  Expect LOTS of pics tomorrow.

All right, let’s see what I’ve starred in my Inbox to blog about.  This is going to be an erratic week for “daily update” posts, but I’ll do the best I can.  Lots of BBQ Fest pics will go up, starting tomorrow morning.  If you’re on dial-up, expect to take my blog about an hour to load.

The Silly Goose will host a Masquerade for Make-a-Wish Wednesday, May 26 starting at 9 PM.  $200 gift certificate to the person with the best mask.  DJ BCON will provide the entertainment.

Nashville was not the only area devastated by floods weekend before last.  Our neighbors to the north, Millington, got it just as bad.  This Saturday, May 15, the Hard Rock Cafe on Beale will host “Musicians for Millington,” a fund-raiser to provide relief to the city’s residents, with 10 bands performing.  Starts at 8:30 PM.

Here’s a tidbit from young professionals organization Mpact Memphis’ Voice of Mpact survey:

Top 3 things employers can do to make young Memphis professionals happy:

1. Pay you more
2. Offer paid time off to volunteer, or offer more vacation and sick days
3. Let you work remotely some days

Here’s a unique event honoring the Memphis in May country of the year:  The Madison Hotel will host a Tunisian olive oil tasting Tuesday, May 18.  Expert knowledge and explanations of Tunisian olive oil; Mediterranean wines; Mirqaz (Tunisian lamb suasage); Briks (Tunisian tuna and egg stuffed turnovers); calamari and olive salad; falafel with chili sauce; lamb sliders with mint yogurt sauce.  333-1224 for reservations.  $35++ per person (I assume the ++ refers to tax and gratuity).

Been reading about Tunisia on Wikipedia this morning.  Damn it sounds like their government kinda sucks.  Remind me again why MIM picked this country?  I’ve been lobbying for Romania for many years to no avail.

Memphis Groupon Deal of the Day:  $20 for a one-year individual membership and three guest passes to the National Ornamental Metal Museum, a $55 value.

Damn!  I got ousted as the mayor of the Red Rooster on Foursquare.  I had the Rooster and Cockadoos for a while; I’d thought about getting Gus’s and Miss Polly’s, in order to have a mayoral lockdown on chicken in Downtown Memphis.

Busy day ahead.  The BBQ team met at the Saucer last night to distribute team materials.  Our inspirational leader/father figure said, “We could use some help in the booth tomorrow.  All the big items are in place, so there’s no heavy lifting.  But there’s lots of little stuff that needs to be done, decorating to make the booth look good.  So we need all the help we can get.”  Then he said, “And Paul, we need you to hold down the fort at the Saucer until Friends & Family Night opens at 5:30.”  At least I think I heard him say that.  I was pretty drunk last night so I could be imagining things.  Anyway, I’ll be holding down the fort, with a few breaks to go outside and chase bums away, and I may stop by Court Square at 11:45 AM for trivia.

As part of the CCC’s Downtown Alive! series, there will be team trivia at lunchtime in Court Square, hosted by Pete the Trivia Guy. It starts at 11:45.  Come show off your knowledge and win prizes.

I’ve had a lot of conversations about BBQ Fest and being on a BBQ team this week.  A number of females have asked me, “If the booths are all private parties, how do I get into them?”  Let me give you a best practice: Don’t bring douche with you.

I’m not referring to Summer’s Eve or similar products.  (If you bring those with you, we’d prefer not to know, thanks.)  By “douche” I mean a guy, or worse, more than one guy, displaying particular traits.  If you’re thinking about coming to BBQ Fest with a guy, ask yourself these questions.  The more “yeses,” the more likely it is that he’s a douche.

1) When he wears a polo shirt, does he pop the collar?

2) Does he spend more time on his hair than you do?

3) When he goes out, does he wear Affliction, Ed Hardy, or similar graphic tees?

4) Does he buy his shirts one size too small, to show off the fact that he works out?

5) Does he use the phrase “GTL” (gym, tanning, laundry) in a non-ironic way?

6) If you went with him to Music Fest, did he randomly yell out “WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!” for no reason?

7) Has he been in a fight in the past month?

8  ) When he wears a baseball cap, does he tilt it at an angle?

9) When you take pics with him, does he make stupid faces and throw hand signs?

If you’re still not clear on the concept of “douche,” I recommend you spend 15-20 reading posts on the Hot Chicks with Douchebags site.  Look at the pics of the guys there.  Then look at the guy you’re considering bringing with you to BBQ Fest and ask yourself honestly, is he a douche?  If he is, you’re going to have a much harder time getting in team booths.

I decided it was time to repost this classic footage from 2009.