Paul Ryburn's Journal

$2 beer at Huey’s? Win. I assume this applies to all their locations, since it’s not the Downtown location’s 40th birthday.

Whew.  Up late last night.  I was at church celebrating our Lord Jesus Christ.  Oh wait.  No I wasn’t.  I was at The Warehouse.  And Calhoun’s.  And the Flying Saucer.  And the Silly Goose.  And Paula & Raiford’s.  And The Shadows.

Damn bunny didn’t bring me any marshallow peeps.  I’m going to connect the camera and see what happened at the Warehouse last night when Mikey the Camera Nazi confiscated the camera.  Saucer is closed until 5 for Easter.  I’m going to try to throw a brick through the window and break in early.  (Attn Brick: Meet me outside the Saucer at noon.   You might want to wear a helmet or hard hat.)  If that doesn’t work, I’ll probably spend the afternoon at Calhoun’s.

Here’s a one-paragraph synopsis:

Jackson Pritchard is a wanted man. Wanted by his clients, by an ex-lover, by a new love interest…and now by the police for questioning. His clients have begun to turn up dead. Jessica Young wants to live her own life for a change. Now that her second life is ready to begin, her path crosses Jackson’s. Follow them across the country and further as their adventures culminate in an explosive and surprise ending. Pepper Jack is a thriller much in the style of James Patterson. Set predominantly in Memphis, it is filled with rich Southern character and characters. The dialogue is fun and fast and the characters are memorable and enjoyable, even the bad guys! Let yourself be swept in the story and see the pages turn themselves.

You can buy it at the publisher’s site.  Jon will be in town May 8 for two signings, 4 PM at the Midtown Blue Monkey at 7 PM at Mollie Fontaine’s.

There will be a ceremony tomorrow at 1 PM to name the alley between Front and Wagner for Jack Tucker. Tucker is an architect and is one of the pioneers of living in Downtown Memphis. After the ceremony there will be a walking tour, led by historian Jimmy Ogle, of some of Tucker’s achievements.

Chef Michael Patrick now has the Mesquite Chop House open for lunch on Fridays only. Menu includes soups and salads; sandwiches in the $8-11 range with choice of fries, soup or salad; and “meat and two” plates in the $8-12 range.

Seen on Facebook: “_____ became a fan of Yelling at Inanimate Objects.” Is Scratchy on Facebook?

I have a problem with this fashion article. They did a good job recommending a red-and-white striped tube top, but then they had to go and say that it’s “easily layered under cardigans or hoodies.” NOOOOO! Tube tops are not meant to be “layered!” They are meant to be shown off! See, this is why I have to devote an entire month of the year to tube tops on the blog, to educate the public.

It’s gonna be a busy weekend for me… my affiliate websites have reached the point that I’m having to upgrade from the Deluxe hosting package to the Premium package on GoDaddy. This is the right kind of problem to have. I have so many exciting ideas to expand my sites… where were these ideas when it was 38 and raining outside? Or when I was unemployed for five months and had unlimited time to build sites? Anyway, I’ll be out this weekend, but I’ll likely have the MacBook or netbook with me, and will be working part of the time.

After I get everything in place, I’m going to teach it to my friend Danny who loaned me the book that inspired this recent round of ideas. Danny: “You mean there’s more to the Internet than forwarding 3 megabyte joke e-mails to everyone in my address book?” Yes, there is.

I wish Foursquare would do a better job removing duplicates in their system. I flagged “flying saucer dtown” as a duplicate two weeks ago, but it’s still showing up. There’s also “Kooky Canuck,” “kooky kanuck,” and “Kooky Camuk.”

@jesus just tweeted, “Not the kind of Friday morning I was expecting.” It’s going to be an interesting weekend to follow him on Twitter.

Plans for tonight: I’ll kick it off at happy hour at the Saucer, but after that, no idea.

The Redbirds will have an open workout at AutoZone Park next Wednesday at 11 AM.  If you work Downtown, this would be a fun way to spend a lunch hour.  They’ll have free hot dogs and sodas.  Free food?  Wonder if the Nuh-Uh Girl will show up.

Beale Street is throwing a party April 22 to welcome its newest tenants, the Red Rooster, Ground Zero, and Lil’ Anthony’s Cafe.  More details here.

Looks like the city won’t put up any money to repair Downtown sidewalks.  Details here.

Tall ladies, check out this article.  The second paragraph has lots of useful information on looking good in a tube top.  60 days until Tube Top Month.

Short post this morning because I have to get to work.  Possibly more at lunchtime.

You can get the fries with any sandwich at Kooky Canuck upgraded to sweet potato fries for a dollar more.  Good decision.

I didn’t think anyone would buy this year’s April Fool’s joke, but apparently several people have. Come on, do you really think Brick could hack a box of Tic Tacs, much less a blog?

Sitting in the window at the Saucer, blogging from my phone. Watched a hooker pick up a customer earlier tonight. Several bums out too. Enjoying a free pint, my reward for making it 1/4 the way to my 4th plate. At 9 I’ll head to Blues City to catch Brad Birkedahl’s new band.

If you’re looking for cheap, good beer, Bardog is doing a bonus $3 pint night tonight until 3 AM.

hey paul this is katie or as you call me “brick” you remember the other day when you said you were surprised i knew how to creat a text file? well i just hacked your blog so whose stupid now

This isn’t a Downtown thing, but I’d like to ask everyone to visit this link and vote. Pepsi is giving away $250,000 grants to worthy causes, and Skatelife Memphis is in the running for one of the grants, to be used to build a skate park in Bimghampton.

The grant would provide a skate park for inner-city youth, and skate equipment. It would provide a safe place for youth to hang out, and this is an activity that is said to transcend socioeconomic boundaries.

Out of over 1100 competing ideas, Skatelife currently ranks 20th in the voting. Please take a minute to vote and make ALL of Memphis better. Also, please note that you can return to the site and vote once a day through the end of April. Let’s give the kids of Memphis this park!

I’ve learned of a new soon-to-be-published novel set in Memphis. Author Jon Pendergrass has written Pepper Jack, described as “a thriller much in the style of James Patterson. Jackson Pritchard journeys towards redemption across Memphis and beyond, towards a new love and then with her, while people around him are being killed one by one.” The book is currently at the printer and Jon hopes for the book to be selling by Tax Day. As soon as I hear that it’s selling in local stores or online, I’ll post a link.

Jon will be in Memphis on May 8 for two book-signings. The first will be at 4 PM at the Midtown Blue Monkey. The Monkey is one of the settings in the novel.

The second signing will be at 7 PM at another setting in the book, Mollie Fontaine’s Lounge. Great place to chill out and have a drink.

You may wonder why I’m mentioning this book, since this is hardly “the literary blog” most days… well, it’s because Jon is my high school classmate. Funny to think that the guy who stood next to me on bleachers yelling “HALL HIGH WARRIORS” is now about to be a published novelist. Pretty cool.

Join the group “Pepper Jack–The Novel” on Facebook to make sure you receive updates about the book.

I’ve blogged several times that the Downtown core is getting a new pizzeria, Aldo’s Pizza Pies, soon.  It looks like Uptown will be getting a pizzeria too.

Yesterday I saw a “coming soon” flyer for a pizzeria and pub called Ferraro’s, which will be at 111 Jackson.  Is that the old High Point Pinch location?

Their flyer reads, “Free delivery, free WiFi, big screen TVs, cold beer, patio dining, handmade pizzas, fresh baked stromboli, lunch specials, family style dinners, fresh salads, catering and parties.”

Sounds good!  Downtown has been without a pizzeria for too long, and now we’re about to have multiple choices.