Paul Ryburn's Journal

I’ve heard about two bars opening early for Saturday’s Conference USA tournament championship game, broadcast on TV at 10:35 AM.  Calhoun’s will open at 9:30 that morning, and the Silly Goose will open at 10.  Last year the Saucer opened early for that game but I’ve not yet confirmed it for this year.

I had a couple of people e-mail me “why not go to the FedExForum for the game?”  Not a bad suggestion – I went to a Tiger game a few weeks ago and had a great time.  However, I want a beer in front of me while I watch, and not an $8 FedExForum beer.  Gotta conserve funds until the paychecks start coming in again.

Given current options, I’m leaning in the direction of the Goose as my place to watch the game.  Calhoun’s gets uncomfortably packed during Tiger games, and their bathroom is only a 1-seater and you have to bump your way past everyone to get there.  The Goose, on the other hand, has ample aisle space and their restroom is a 3-holer (men’s; no idea what’s in the women’s restroom).  They also have a full liquor bar, PBR on tap, and they may have taken the “hottest waitresses Downtown” title away from the Saucer.  Plus they’re a sponsor of my BBQ team, so I like to support them as much as I can.

Speaking of the Silly Goose, they now have a group on Facebook.  Glad to see them getting on board.  Facebook is becoming a vital way for bars to communicate with their regulars nowadays.  Search for them under Groups if you’re on.

I’m also getting word of some St. Pat’s parties… yes, I will post them, just waiting until the end of the week after the Memphis Flyer and Livin’ It Up Downtown come out, so I can see what all is going on and do one post with all the events.

Also got a response to my question why none of the Goose’s Depression-era cocktails contain vodka… back in the 1930s we weren’t on great terms with Russia.  It wasn’t until 1941 when Hitler invaded them, and Japan attacked us, that we started to get along with Stalin.  So we probably weren’t importing any Russian booze back then.

Bee-yoo-tiful day outside… I may take an hour off from my freelance work and check out either the Goose’s or the Saucer’s patio… hmmm, with Sunset Wheat as the Fire Sale I’m gonna have to lean toward the Saucer.  Goose’s patio is fun for people watching and bum watching though.  Think I’ll walk that direction and see what I can find.

Below is a pic from the Silly Goose’s Depression Era Mondays, where they sell classic Depression-era cocktails at Depression prices ($1 each) from 5 to 7 PM.  They also give away free tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches in honor of the soup lines of the ’30s.  You have 16 different cocktail choices for $1:  Abbey Cocktail, Waldorf, Pegu Club, Rob Roy, Gibson, Sidecar, Gimlet, Old Fashioned, Cuba Libre, French 75, High Ball, John Collins, Manhattan, Tom Collins, Whiskey Fizz, Whiskey Sour.  If you’d rather have a beer, they have dollar PBR.

One of the cocktails, the Waldorf, contains absinthe as an ingredient.  How often do you get to buy anything with absinthe in it for a dollar?

My friends and I hung out at the bar and enjoyed the cheap drinks for the entire 2-hour duration. We observed that none of the cocktails contained vodka, interestingly enough.  I guess that wasn’t a Depression-era liquor.  I’ll have to ask the bartenders about that next time I go in.  Or I’ll ask the Weiss Asses tonight at trivia, since they were old enough to go to bars during the Depression.

Restaurant.com has a new promotional code for 80% off: Click here to go to the site and enter code MENU at checkout. That means their $25 face-value gift certificates, which normally sell for $10, are now $2. A lot of Memphis restaurants are part of this program. I can’t figure out how they make money at 80% off, but I know enough people who have bought and redeemed these certificates to know that it’s a legit operation.

Need to buy some restaurant equipment?  March 19 may be your lucky day.  As I was walking down the Main Street Mall this weekend I saw a sign in the window of Blues City Pastry:

All their restaurant equipment will be sold off, on-site at Blues City Pastry at Main and Peabody Place.  If you’re planning to open a restaurant, or if you plan on upgrading an existing one, this would be worth a visit.

The Peabody has announced its first rooftop party of the season for Thursday, April 9.  Shinedown will play a short acoustic set at 7, then Free Sol at 7:30, and Lord T and Eloise at 8:45.  Parties run from 6 to 10 PM and are $5 to get in, with ladies free before 8.

Back to work on the freelancing project I’m finishing up… just about got the manual written, then I have to find a CD for an installer I haven’t used since 2003.  Exciting.  May take the laptop to the Second Street Branch Office to work since it’s so nice outside.  SMA meeting tonight at Circa, but I’m in the mood for trivia so I may skip it.  If you’re going don’t forget to bring cell phones and ink cartridges to recycle.

Chef Clint from Orleans on Front e-mailed me more details about the crawfish boil happening this Sunday, March 15, in the parking lot next to the restaurant.  He’s thinking of a start time around 3:30, and continuing past sunset.  Here are the details:

– Clint will boil the crawfish in a massive pot he picked up in New Orleans that holds 425 pounds of the mudbugs.  There will be corn, potatoes, mushrooms, sausage, and garlic thrown in the boil.  There will be an all-you-can-eat price that includes your first draft beer, and there will be a to-go box price.

– There will be a Budweiser tap trailer with Hoop pouring the beer.

– DJ Tree will provide the music.  There will be no entry fee for the music this time, although they may do it in the future depending on how much crawfish and beer they sell, and how well people tip the bartender and DJ.

– March 15, of course, is Selection Sunday, kind of a big deal for Memphis Tigers fans.  For those who want to watch and see if we get our well-deserved #1 seed, the TVs in Orleans’ bar and in the Voodoo Room will be available.

– Darts, Wii bowling and beer pong in the Voodoo Room.

This should be fun.  Great chance to get out of the house on a Sunday afternoon and meet your Downtown neighbors.  Right now the weather is looking less than ideal – high 55, low 47 last I saw – but there’s still 6 days for the forecast to change, and even if it is unseasonably cool we can always take the crawfish inside Orleans or the Voodoo Room.  I definitely plan on being there – hope you can make it too.

Here is the schedule for the games the Memphis Tigers will play in the Conference USA tournament this weekend (all times Central Daylight Time):

• Quarterfinals:  Thursday, 6 PM
• Semifinals:  Friday, 5:30 PM
• Finals:  Saturday, 10:35 AM

And here we go again with the same problem we have every year:  Because we play in such a lousy conference, we get a lousy start time for the championship game – 10:35 AM, a problem for those of us who like to go to bars to watch the Tigers on TV.  Most bars don’t open until 11.  So it’s time to ask the question, who’s opening early Saturday for the Tiger game? Usually it’s not hard to convince bars in the Downtown core to do it, since the tournament is at the FedExForum and they get quite a bit of business before and after the games.

Undecided where to watch Saturday’s game… will figure it out once I see who’s open.  Will probably watch Thursday’s game at the Saucer since the Dempseys play there later in the evening.  Undecided about Friday too.

Post about Orleans on Front’s crawfish boil will be up around 1 PM.

Just a reminder that the Silly Goose is doing classic cocktails at Depression-era prices tonight for $1 from 5 to 7 PM.  Got an e-mail from one of the owners this morning, and he says they’re doing PBR for a dollar as well.  They will also offer their own stimulus package, complimentary tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, in honor of the soup lines of the Great Depression.

Come on down and support the Goose… if this goes well it will become a regular event.

Info coming later today about next Sunday’s crawfish boil at Orleans on Front.

CSS once again proved Saturday why it is the worst sports network of all time.  I showed up at the Saucer at noon expecting to see the Tigers on TV.  Instead I saw a women’s game between Jacksonville State and East Tennessee State.  “How could they not know there’s a game on?” I thought.  “Being a home game at the FedExForum, there had to be a lot of people in here with Tiger attire earlier.”

So I asked the manager to change the channel to CSS, and he told me it was on CSS.  I turned on the Wi-Fi on my phone and looked up the game, and confirmed that CSS was the correct channel.

I then texted Mikey, who was at Calhoun’s, to see if they had the game.  They didn’t either.  CSS screwed up, that’s all there was to it.  About 45 minutes later, after being flooded with calls, Comcast finally got their act together and got the Tiger game on with a few minutes left in the first half.  I kept my Wi-Fi on and reloaded the score from ESPN Mobile every 15 seconds in the meantime.

What I would give to have Time-Warner back in Memphis as the cable provider… both my cable and Internet service were just about flawless for years when they were here.  Twice this week my Comcast Internet service has gone out in the middle of online poker hands.

Anyway, rant over, and congrats to the Tigers on a perfect regular-conference season.

Full day ahead today… I’m going to do the Bloody Mary bar at Silly Goose again this week.  They don’t open ’til 12, so I have an extra hour to play online poker before I head that way, a good thing because the poker rooms tend to be full of bad players on Sunday mornings.  At 5 I have to be at the Saucer for my friend Matty O’s going-away party, and then the Dempseys play Huey’s at 8:30, although I may skip them or show up late if Matt’s party gets good.  If I miss them it will be the first time since 2003 I’ve missed a Downtown Huey’s Dempseys show.

Time to hit Publish and go win some money… see ya later.

Today is the last regular-season home game for the Memphis Tigers (vs. Tulane at noon).  It’s Senior Day, and I just want to take a moment to say THANK YOU to Antonio Anderson, Robert Dozier, and Chance McGrady, the three seniors who have stuck with this program for 4 years.  Your leadership and work ethic have played a huge role in turning Memphis into a first-class basketball city.  Congratulations on not only your basketball success, but on your upcoming graduation in May.  Best wishes to the three of you.  Your contributions will not soon be forgotten.

Tonight is the first live band night at Automatic Slim’s under the new ownership.  Walrus takes the stage around 11, and Michael Patrick’s late night menu will be in place from 10 to 3.

The Dempseys play Huey’s on Sunday.  This is one of several Downtown dates the Dempseys will have next week.  I never miss their Downtown Huey’s shows… without a doubt the best place to catch them.

Calhoun’s is doing an NCAA bracket challenge.  From March 15 to March 18, every time you buy a premium beer (Guinness, any Ghost River, Stella, IPA, Fat Tire) you get a bracket to fill out.  The winning bracket will be announced after the tournament is over, and will receive a $100 bar tab.  Sounds like a great deal for those who drink premium beer… I’m a PBR drinker so I likely won’t have any bracket entries at all.

Yesterday I posted about the drive to recycle old cell phones and injket and laser print cartridges as a fundraiser for the South Main Association.  You can bring those items to any SMA meeting (including the one at Circa on the 10th).  However, if you can’t make it to a meeting, there are also drop-off locations at the Westin Hotel just south of Beale, Bank Tennessee at 30 N. Second, or at Bluff City Coffee at 505 S. Front.  Interesting fact:  Each recycled laser cartridge saves a half-gallon of oil.

That’s all for now… gonna play online poker ’til 8 then head out, probably to the Saucer, then to Slim’s and the Tap Room.

I just accepted a job offer with a non-profit company here in Memphis.  It’s exactly what I’ve been looking to do.  The job title is Webmaster, but I won’t be sitting at a computer 8 hours a day banging out code.  The position is not in the IT department but is under the Director of Marketing.  I’ll be building websites, but they have a web programmer to do the heavy coding, and a sysadmin to maintain the server.  The Director of Marketing is looking for me to suggest ways to make the existing site more user-friendly, to suggest new site ideas to broaden the organization’s audience, and to create a content management system to allow nontechnical people to upload site content.  Months ago I said that I wanted to get into marketing, and now it looks like I’m going to have that chance.

The Director of Marketing has to go out of town for a conference for over a week, so most likely my start date won’t be until Monday, March 23.  Needless to say that is just fine with me… two more weeks to finish up my freelance work, play poker online, and stay out late at the neighborhood hangouts.

Trying to throw two days off for BBQ Fest into the negotiations… we’ll see.

The offer confirms what I’ve been saying all along… that when one is job hunting, one should not take the first position that comes along, but instead wait for the right position to appear.

So this weekend I’m celebrating… no idea what I’ll be getting into tonight, other than stopping by the Tap Room at some point to wish a friend a happy birthday.  I’ll definitely be out and about though!

Just heard from Chef Clint at Orleans on Front… the beer board has approved permits for them to do crawfish boils in the parking lot Sunday afternoon, March 15 and March 29.  These are going to be big parties with musical entertainment (he’s lining that up now, details to come).  March 15 is Selection Sunday for the NCAA tournament and you’ll be able to move back and forth between the parking lot and the Orleans and Voodoo Room bars, both of which are equipped with TVs.  He’s still deciding on a start time, but last I heard, he was thinking around 4 PM.

Orleans is, as the name suggests, on Front Street between Union and Gayoso, approximately across the street from the Butcher Shop.

Save the dates!  These should be fun.  If they go well, there will be three more crawfish boils in April.