Paul Ryburn's Journal

I previously posted that South of Beale will open early (12:30 PM) next Saturday for the US vs. England World Cup game.  Well, I’ve since learned additional information, and it will make the Nuh-Uh Girl very happy.  They just tweeted on their @southofbeale account that they will have FREE FOOD SAMPLES while they last for the game.

I’m not sure if the Nuh-Uh Girl is a soccer fan, but I’m pretty sure she’ll be willing to become one for a couple of hours if there’s free food involved.

The Nuh-Uh Girl, who is currently in New Orleans, will miss out on a free food event tonight though.  Christine by Shelton Clothiers is having their open house from 5 to 9 with food from Circa, beer and wine.  Even though I’m not in their target market, I guess I’ll stop by to cover the event for the blog.  (and maybe drink a beer too)

Last night my friend Lee and I were drinking beer at the Saucer.  “Let’s go next door and see how Brick’s doing,” he suggested.  So we walked over to the Silly Goose.  I had the camera.

All right, on to the news, and the pictures make a good lead-in because my first item is about the Silly Goose.  INSIDE SPORTS is conducting a talent search to find a sexy reporter, and they’ll be at the Goose on Tuesday.  Registration will take place at 4 PM, and then they’ll do auditions from 4:30 to 7 PM.  After that, it’s time to party!  They didn’t mention specific attire, but I think a tube top would be a good thing to wear to this event if you plan to audition.

BJ Chester-Tamayo, chef at Alcenia’s, was mentioned in this week’s Meet the Chef feature in the CA.

Watching the conference realignment rumors with great interest… looks like Kansas, Kansas State, Baylor and Iowa State may be screwed.  Wonder if the end result could be Memphis and Kansas in the same conference?  That would sure make basketball fun to watch.

Fun night last night… before ending up at the Saucer and then the Goose, I went down to Calhoun’s for a while.  GREAT crowd.  I played cornhole outside and actually didn’t do too bad.

No plans for today.  Not driving out east to Italian Fest. Just saw that Franziskaner is the fire sale, so maybe I’ll walk over to the Saucer and have a beer with Danny.

A few weeks ago I mentioned that Lansky at the Peabody had created a coffee table book detailing the store’s 65-year history. Hal Lansky was on Live at 9 this week to talk about the book. The interview can be seen on YouTube here.

One of my New Year’s resolutions (yeah, I know it’s June) is to use Evernote more. It’s a fantastic note-taking tool. It has text recognition, so you can take photos of documents and then find text within them. There have to be 101 uses for Evernote that I haven’t discovered yet. They made a great move yesterday, when they brought one of my favorite authors, Tim Ferriss, on as an advisor. Tim is the author of The Four-Hour Work Week, and in this interview he discusses some of the ways he uses Evernote to save time.

South of Beale normally opens at 4 PM, but they’ve announced that next Saturday, June 12, they’ll be open at noon for the US vs. England soccer match.

If you’re a summer intern, or if you have summer interns, check out this excellent Leadership Academy program. It helps interns in town for the summer get connected in the community, and to develop friendships while experiencing all the great things Memphis has to offer. This is a program that really works – back when I was active at MPACT Memphis, they did something similar and saw an increase in the number of interns who returned to Memphis to take full-time permanent positions after graduation.

I’ve been asked to ask a favor of my blog readers. Go to the Flying Saucer, and order Spaten products (Spaten Lager, Oktoberfest, or Franziskaner) from Whitney, pictured below.

There’s currently a contest going on where the Saucer employee who sells the most Spaten products gets a prize. Whitney, by the way, didn’t ask me to make this announcement – people who want to see her win did. And it’s an opportunity to throw a tube top pic on the blog, so, win/win.

For ideas for stuff to do this weekend, check out Kerry’s post on her I Love Memphis blog. It’s a good resource to check every Friday as you plan your weekend.

Time for lunch… thinking Arby’s today.  No big plans for tonight, but I’ll be at the Saucer for happy hour and see where the evening takes me after that.

I did my usual Peabody rooftop pre-game at the Saucer last night.  I told the girls the rooftop theme was “Jersey Shore,” and they wanted to do my hair for the event.  The result was a Snooki style poof.

Rooftop party was good… threat of rain made for a smaller crowd than usual.  Not a lot of people dressed up Jersey Shore style (other than the douchebags who dress like that every night).  Also, fewer tube tops than I had hoped to see.

Back at lunchtime with an update.

The Red Rooster is bringing back its “You Got the Look” contest for its post-rooftop Thursday night parties.  Every week the Rooster will select a lucky lady who “has the look” to receive a great prize.  This week’s prize is a Coach bag.  There is no cover for ladies all night Thursday nights at the Rooster, 2-for-1 drinks until 10, and $2.50 longnecks until midnight.

I have no affiliation with this contest, but if I did, the winner would probably have a tube top on.  Just sayin’.

The monthly South Main Association meeting will be next Tuesday, June 8, at Christine by Shelton Clothiers on the Main Street Mall.  The speaker will be Terry Lynch, president of The Southland Companies, speaking on the topic “Is the Glass Half Empty or Half Full.”  (Was that rescheduled from a previous meeting?  Sounds familiar.)  Social at 6, meeting at 6:30, cash bar, complimentary hors d’oeuvres provided by Circa.  Free food?  Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

And that’ll do it for this short post.  I have a couple of unused Darden Restaurants gift cards, and Red Lobster is not far away, so I guess that will be lunch.

A lot of people have been waiting for this one… tonight’s theme on the Peabody rooftop is “Jersey Shore.”  Dress up like The Situation, DJ Pauly D, JWoww, Snooki, or just do your own interpretation of what Jersey Shore might look like if it came to Memphis.

There will be a Jersey Shore themed menu including

– Coney Island dogs
– Cheddar popcorn
– Onion rings

If you’re in VIP, these additional items will be on the buffet there:

– Fried clam po’boys
– Fried fish fingers with tartar sauce
– Wheel of cheddar cheese w/crackers

Featured beers will be PBR and Sparks.  Not sure how I feel about the world’s greatest beer, PBR, being featured on a night that honors people like Snooki.

$10 cover, first drink free with paid admission, ladies free before 7.  Entertainment will be the Mudflap Kings.  Get out on that dance floor and battle to their tunes!  And remember, in Jersey, we don’t pump our gas, we pump our fists!

After a stop at happy hour at the Saucer last night, I went to Bikes on Beale, where there were countless Harleys and three scooters.  Here’s Sally of the Blue Suede Brigade on a scooter.  Yeah, I know it’s June and this isn’t a tube top pic, but Sally’s pretty popular Downtown so hopefully my readers will let it slide.

In other news:  The Silly Goose is doing a pasta bar from 5-9 Monday-Friday.  It’s $10-13 depending on what you order, and they have a wide array of sauces and toppings.

The CCC tweeted this last night: “Joey’s NY Deli & Pizzeria opens 2morrow at 99 N Main. Smoked prime rib po-boy, NY Dog on baguette, beef brisket sandwich, pizza. 523-0116”

Got another post coming this morning, about this week’s Peabody rooftop party.

The new women’s clothing store on the Main Street Mall, Christine by Shelton Clothiers, will have its grand opening this Saturday, June 5, from 5 to 9 PM. Food by Circa, wine and beer, music by the Jesse Smith Band. 10% of sales at the grand opening will be donated to LeBonheur to help fund its expansion. Free food? Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up? Also, I wonder if Christine will be selling tube tops?

I found this site which lets you overlay the BP oil spill over any city to see how large it is. If centered on Memphis, the spill would extend nearly to Little Rock in the west.

By the way, I got an e-mail from a reader noting that just because a local gas station displays the BP logo, does NOT necessarily mean they buy gas from BP. A local station like BP Riverside, he said, would likely buy gas from local suppliers, possibly Valero. While I’m all in favor of getting revenge on BP for this disaster, we do need to be careful and not punish a good local station that is part of the community and which has one of the best delis Downtown.

The Orpheum has released its summer movie series lineup. Caddyshack and ET are among the films. Friday, August 20 is Rocky Horror night.

Need a job? The CCC is seeking a Development Project Manager.

City government has received a $22 million grant to demolish Cleaborn Homes east of Danny Thomas near Vance. Their plan is to replace the housing project with mixed-use, mixed-income residental facilities with early childhood programs. Some of the old residents will be able to move back in on completion. All of the current residents will get help finding a new place to live. The city has previously done this with Lauderdale Courts, Hurt Village, and Lamar Terrace with great success. They’re hoping to get money to demolish Foote Homes across Danny Thomas next. Many of Downtown’s panhandlers, crackheads and criminals live in Cleaborn and Foote. Glad to see the city cleaning that mess up.

Time for lunch.  I found a place near where I work that has chicken livers… my grandmother got me into those when I was a little kid.  Will probably be out somewhere tonight.  Anyone seen the Fire Sale yet?

Last night we celebrated the final night at trivia for team member Aimee.  Aimee, better known on this blog as The Nuh-Uh Sister, has accepted a job in California.  You may have seen Aimee on TV recently, jumping up and down after winning the Showcase on The Price Is Right.  (Too bad she didn’t have a tube top on.)

Aimee will most definitely be missed on Tuesday nights, and the other days of the week as well.  The Rapscallions took second last night… what a great crew we had there.  Wish it was always like that.  Across the room, our regular competition the Weiss Asses discussed buying matching “I Survived the Cretaceous-Tertiary Extinction Boundary” shirts to wear to trivia.

Wednesday… Corporate Karaoke Challenge in Court Square at lunchtime… Bikes on Beale… Poker night at Bardog.  Off to work, probably a post to come at lunch.

Bardog Tavern just tweeted that they’re showing Easy Rider in the Underdog Room tonight in honor of the late Dennis Hopper.  Film starts at 7 PM.  It’s also Pint Night at Bardog, so you can have any beer on tap for $3 from 7 PM to 3 AM.

I won’t be there for the movie since I’ve got trivia down the street… however, I might stop by afterward to drink a pint and defend my mayorship… so ladies, if you go out to Bardog let’s see those tube tops!  If Dennis Hopper were still alive I’m sure he would want you to wear a tube top too.

All right… got a blog post done and did a little .htaccess tweaking… now it’s time for BEER!