Paul Ryburn's Journal

I just downloaded my photos from Memphis Brewfest and wow, are they ever horrible.  Out of all the ones I took there are maybe 3 good ones.  Lots of out of focus shots, shots with half of people’s heads cut off, shots with eyes closed, etc.  That’s what happens when the point is to get as wasted as possible in 4 hours.  Well, the organizers of the festival would probably argue that the point is to learn about beer, but I disagree.

I did get a good pic of one of my favorite tube top wearers, and she will probably make an appearance on the blog sometime in June.  36 days until Tube Top Month!

Which reminds me… if you’re going to Wine Race today and want to be on the blog, wear a tube top and find me… I’ll have the camera with me.  (Note:  This offer applies to women only… shouldn’t even have to say that, but Skippy reads my blog.)

The official start time of Wine Race is 1, but people start congregating on the street earlier… I’ll probably get down there about 12.  I’ll mention once again that a Call-a-Cab from Wet Willie’s is a very good idea.  (Unless you’re driving… then it’s a very BAD idea.)  Events include (not sure about the order) a grape stomp, a parade, Queen of the Vine, and the wine relay.  Most of the participants start drinking early in the morning so they’re properly lubricated by the time the competition starts.  If you’ve never seen Wine Race, you really need to come down.  It’s in Handy Park and on Beale east of Third.

Post-race, everyone (participants and spectators) disperse to nearby bars (Alfred’s in particular) and proceed to get even more wasted.  Last weekend may have been the best festival weekend of the spring, but this weekend is surely the drunkest.

After that it’ll be time for Music Fest… I’m undecided about going this year.  I’m going to wait until Wednesday, the last day to buy the 3-day pass, then decide.  I have two requirements:  No low below 60 degrees, and no day with a greater than 50% chance of rain.  Looks like the temperatures will hold up, but the rain situation is iffy.

Saw on Twitter that a couple had sex in a hot tub on a Downtown rooftop last night.  They apparently had quite an audience.  I wonder which rooftop?

What the hell… I’ll go ahead and post the few good Brewfest pics I took… then I’m outta here… see you at Wine Race

Beer being served in the concourse

Bicycle Bobby and Kelly.  With wind gusts to 40 MPH, I was extremely disappointed that Kelly didn’t wear her skirt.

A rare pic of the Nuh-Uh Girl without food.  From the look on her face, I’d guess she was sampling Turbo Dog.

Stevie G, Lee and Lauren

If you didn’t get a chance to check out the grand opening of the Red Rooster Thursday night, here are some pics of the first floor and patio.  I didn’t get up to the second floor.

Kooky Canuck is known as one of the best places Downtown to get value for your money, and that will definitely be the case for their Kooky de Mayo party they’re throwing May 5.  Take a look at the specials they have planned for that day.

If you read my blog on Thursday, you saw that I made a post where I claimed to have hacked the Cordova Flying Saucer’s computers.  I said that I stole next Tuesday’s questions for trivia night, and posted them.  Of course, the whole thing was a joke.  It was obvious I made up the questions, and if I were into hacking I sure wouldn’t publicize it on my blog.  Or rather, I thought it was obvious.

I just passed the GM of both Saucers on Second Street.  “You’re a funny guy, Paul,” he told me.  “I was getting phone calls all day saying, ‘Paul Ryburn hacked your computers!'”

Wow.  I am at a loss for words.

Cordova is stupid.

This weekend’s storms have convinced me that MemphisWeather.net is a site to be bookmarked and checked frequently.  In addition to their main page with forecasts and radar links and such, their blog is a great resource to read for inclement weather info.  Great updates on Twitter at @memphisweather1 from them, and you can “Like” MemphisWeather.net on Facebook as well.  They also have a presence on Flickr and YouTube.

Thursday night I went to the Beale Street East End grand re-opening party.  I took a few pics of The Rooster, the W.C. Handy House, etc. and I happened to catch the tall buildings of Downtown in the background.  As I examined one of them, I noticed something odd hanging off the Sterick Building’s flag pole.  “That isn’t a flag,” I thought.  “Unless it got tangled up somehow.”  I decided to aim my 10x zoom lens at the Sterick and get a closer shot.  Look what I found (click the pic to zoom in for larger image):

WTF… is that a body?  Did a midget piss off the wrong person and get made an example of?  Can’t tell.  The pic was taken from 5 blocks away, so that was as close as I could zoom.  Since I live near the Sterick, I’ll try to walk by there today and get a better look at whatever that is.

If you have a ticket to Memphis Brewfest, it’s been delayed one hour until 5 PM due to today’s storms.  Event will last until 9 PM.  The Memphis Flyer, the Flying Saucer, and a bunch of beer distributors are the sponsors.  I’ve been told the after-party will be at the Saucer.  Brick will be working.  Yay!

Oh, that reminds me, it’s time for another Brick pic.  Here’s a boob-on-boob shot of her and Mary Pat.

So let’s say it’s a weekend night and you’ve been out dancing on Beale Street. Maybe you’re on your way out of The Shadows, or Club 152, or Alfred’s, or the newly-reopened Red Rooster. You’re hungry and want to grab some breakfast before going to bed. Up until now, your only nearby option was Denny’s at Third and Union. Trouble is, the food there is pretty lousy. It’s “better than nothing” food.

Well, now you have a better option. Thursday night I met Mr. Anthony, owner of Lil’ Anthony’s Cafe at Fourth and Beale, and he told me that his restaurant will stay open “24/24” on the weekends. I haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but friends of mine had and really loved the place. I hear they have the biggest biscuits in town. Maybe I’ll try it this weekend… hmmm maybe Sunday before Wine Race.

I got to see the new Red Rooster too… a little smaller than the old space, but it has a very nice patio. I liked it. Whoever was in charge of hiring the bar staff did an excellent job. I’m going to be on Beale Street a lot more now that the Rooster is there.

I didn’t got a whole lot of pics, but “Brian C” who is one of the writers of the Downtown Download blog was there and I saw him snapping a lot of pics. I was told that another one of their bloggers, “Rebecca S,” was there too, but I’m not sure I know who she is.

Congratulations to the Nuh-Uh Sister for winning the Showcase on the Price is Right yesterday! About .01 second after it was over, the Nuh-Uh Girl tweeted, “So where are you taking me?”

Interesting note I saw online yesterday… Apple has passed Microsoft in market cap, meaning the total valuation of the company based on stock price times number of shares out. That’s remarkable. I used to own shares of both companies inside my Roth IRA. This would’ve been around 2001-2002. At the time, Microsoft was battling it out with GE for the US’s largest company with market caps around $250 billion. Apple was at a paltry $4 billion or so at the time. Now they’ve caught up.

Got my blinds open… couple more things to post this morning.  Trying to decide if I want to cash in a round 2 ticket for a PokerStars freeroll at 9.  Check back, more to come.

If you’re in front of a TV this morning, tune into Channel 3 at 10 AM… a Memphian will be a contestant on The Price Is Right.  The Nuh-Uh Sister, who won big on Wheel of Fortune a couple of years ago, will be on the show.  The name tag was too small to fit “The Nuh-Uh Sister” on it, so she went by “Aimee” instead.  To her sister’s dismay, she didn’t win anything that involved food.

I’m now hearing that Memphis Brewfest will make an announcement about their plans for Saturday around 11 today.  They can moved the brewfest under the covered area of Autozone Park to protect guests from rain, but lightning is another matter.  I hope they don’t have to move it to Sunday when it will conflict with Wine Race, but they may have no choice.  Kinda sucks.  You can “like” them on Facebook to stay in touch with their updates.

Last night at the Saucer I ran into Pam, who I scolded on this blog last month for pouring out beer at the March brew fest. She told me that she’s now known as “that girl who pours beer out” and she received a lecture from her neighbor Terry. A much-deserved lecture, but I think she’s learned her lesson.

Since Pam reads this blog, I have another lesson for her, just so she’ll better understand how things work Downtown. This Sunday at 1 PM is Beale Street Wine Race, where servers around town will compete in various events. One of the events is a wine relay, where servers have to open a bottle of wine, pour a glass, then run about 100 yards, carrying bottle and glass on a tray, over several hurdles until they hand off the tray to their teammate, who then adds another bottle of wine and another glass.

Question: Do you think they’re using real wine bottles?

Of course not! Much wine gets spilled, many bottles get broken. Downtowners don’t waste alcohol! This is a point that even the bums understand. The event organizers fill bottles with water for the event.

Who am I going to root for in the Wine Race? Well, I can’t root for the home team, because the Saucer never enters the event. Too bad they don’t, because they have people there who would have a great shot at winning Queen of the Vine. I’m not sure Brick would be my first choice for that competition, but it would be fun to hear her share her wisdom during the interview portion of the contest.

My South Main friends can’t root for their home team either, because Calhoun’s doesn’t have enough employees to enter. So who’s left?

– Silly Goose. Too bad Nicole’s not around to enter Queen of the Vine again.

– Bardog, and I definitely hope Jean does Queen of the Vine for a second year.

– Kooky Canuck. Of course I’m going to cheer for our hot wing fest sponsor who brought a Kookamonga burger to our booth!

– Not sure if the newly reopened Red Rooster will have a team, but if they do I’ll be cheering for them.

Speaking of the Rooster… don’t forget that they are OPEN tonight, in their new location (formerly the Double Deuce), and they’ll be part of the Beale Street East End party. Thursday nights are once again the time to rock out with your cock out. Party starts at 6… hmmm… wonder if anyone has created the venue on Foursquare yet. Maybe I need to get there at 6 sharp and do it. The Nuh-Uh Girl will probably try to beat me there so she can create it, but she’ll get distracted by the food.

I’ll do the east end party then hit the Peabody rooftop about 7:30, 8ish or so. If it rains I may skip the party and hit the Saucer early.

Speaking of rain… it’s really not looking good for Saturday. Conditions still look ripe for severe storms. In case of rain, Memphis Brewfest will be moved from the courtyard area in front of Autozone Park to the covered concourse area inside.

Cutting it off here, because I need to use the rest of my lunch break to make a Wal-Mart run… nice to be able to do that and be back in 15 minutes.