Help save an important mentoring program at UT

I received the e-mail below this morning and wanted to share it. An important mentoring program that helps disadvantaged students at the University of Tennessee is in danger of being dropped because of stupid government bureaucracy. Please read, and if you feel like it pick up the phone or send an e-mail to protest.

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Dear friends,

Your help is needed to create an internet howl of protest sufficient to reverse a decision that will be a blow to UT and a setback for a quality education.

UT’s McNair Scholars program is a superb resource. It takes kids from disadvantaged backgrounds who have made it to college and helps them prepare for graduate education. It is one of the most successful McNair programs in the country, and each year it also does a regional conference of other similar programs. I have volunteered as a McNair mentor to a young scholar five times, and found it to be a phenomenal program.

Now the program may lose its federal money (called the TRIO program) because its 2008 application was three minutes late. UT’s Office of Research Administration blames a slow link in the grants.gov site. Sadly, so far all attempts to correct have fallen on deaf ears.

Today I visited the local offices of Congressman Duncan, and Senators Alexander and Corker. All shake their heads, but seem resigned to accept the pronouncements of low-level persons who merely cite procedure, or who claim the money is already distributed (when they really mean they don’t want to change their allocation formula).

You can call these offices, too. However, I recommend the direct approach, making an appeal for reason and human judgment. You can make that appeal to the program administrator, Dr. Linda Byrd-Johnson (Linda.byrd-johnson@ed.gov, phone 202-502-7729). I recommend politeness but persistence, and spreading the word to other internet sites so we can magnify the message so it will not be ignored.

Calhoun’s bar is close to opening

Today I saw a flyer in my apartment building saying that Calhoun’s Sports Bar and Grill is hiring waitresses. That must mean they’re pretty close to opening the doors. Calhoun’s will be located on G.E. Patterson Avenue (which used to be named Calhoun Avenue) next door to the Cheesecake Corner, in the space that used to a convenience store.

Calhoun’s has a website – not much there right now but hopefully they’ll update it as opening day draws closer.

Friday update

You know you spend too much time at bars when… you’re walking down the Main Street Mall in the middle of the day on a weekday, and someone asks you, “Aren’t you supposed to be at the Saucer right now?” Not, aren’t you supposed to be at WORK, but the Saucer.

Not much to write about today, so here are a couple of links:

Dr. Ivan Misner, one of the nation’s foremost experts on professional networking, wrote a good article about e-mail and nutcases. I think we all know people of the type he’s talking about.

Street-People.com has a good article about bums in Confederate Park. Funny thing, I can see the park out our office window and I see the very people he writes about.

… and that’s all I’ve got. No idea what my plans will be for tonight. I may just stay home and use tonight as a “recovery night.” Although, stopping by the Saucer after work for a happy hour beer isn’t totally out of the question.

Happy hour at Sauces

Before heading down to Hoop’s Bar/EP’s for the usual Thursday night fun, I stopped by Sauces where my friend Ugly Steve was working. Looks like they’ve kicked their happy hour up a notch. It runs from 2 PM to 7 PM Sunday through Friday and here are the specials:

$1.50 beer

$2.50 wells

$3.00 wine

Not bad at all. Happy hour starts at 2? Attn work: I think I’m coming down with the flu or something and may have to leave early this afternoon.

Quarters

I played quarters for the first time in a long time last night. I won, but I lost. Today is going to seem like about a 42 hour workday.

To protect the not-so-innocent, I won’t say who I was playing with.

It’s funny, but quarters is one of those games where you get better as you drink more. Or at least I do. At the beginning of the game, I couldn’t hit the side of a barn. Toward the end, I was hitting 5, 6, 7 in a row.

(Edit: It wasn’t actually “quarters” but rather “dollars” – I was shooting with that new dollar coin. Does that mean you can give away 4 drinks rather than one?)

BYOB party at the Cotton Museum Saturday night

The Cotton Museum, in the Cotton Exchange Building at Front and Union, is having a party/fundraiser Saturday night. You’ll be able to dance on the cotton trading floor to the Memphis Knights Big Band, which will play swing era favorites, modern jump-jive-wail, jazz standards, and holiday tunes. The theme is “step back into 1939” and they have the cotton quotes on the chalkboard and other museum displays set to 1939.

Downtowners will like this: Not only will you be able to dance on the trading floor, but DRINK on the trading floor as well! The event is BYOB, with mixers and soft drinks available. Here’s an idea: Stop by Frank’s Liquors at Main and Vance (which is newly remodeled, looks really nice, and no longer sells bum wines) and pick up a pint to bring with you to the party.

$10 cover which is a donation to the Cotton Museum, doors open at 7, music starts at 7:30. The event ends at 9:30, so you’ll have plenty of time to do other things Downtown afterward. They say the party is likely to sell out early, so you can call 531-7826 and order your tickets in advance. You also get $1 off ticket price if you order by Friday.

This sounds like fun… I may very well end up going. Sounds like a chance to do something different, and meet some different people.

And that’ll wrap it up for today’s lunch break. In the few minutes I have left, I want to read the Rolling Stone magazine I just bought, which has a story on the upcoming Led Zeppelin reunion and possible tour.

Recap of last night

Went to Target to shop for a present last night, then headed back Downtown. “I’ll hang out at McGuinness for a couple of hours,” I thought, “Then I’ll head over to the Saucer.” Well, what ended up happening was that I had so much fun at McGuinness that I never made it to the Saucer. Yes, you read that correctly. I had so much fun that not even waitresses in miniskirts could pull me away.

Met several of my blog readers last night who I learned were also McGuinness regulars. One of them wanted to be mentioned in the blog, so I pulled out my camera and took a picture of us. Here ya go:


She asked me to guess her profession, and apparently my guess (“Dancer at the Pony?”) didn’t go over very well. She’s actually a special ed teacher. She had some comments about my blog which are worth a separate post of their own, but I’ll save that for later as I’m trying to get this done in my lunch hour.

Nice meeting you, Taylor, Leigh, and all the other people whose names escape me 12 hours later. Great group of people to hang out with. Glad you find this blog entertaining.

I also came away from the evening with possible plans for New Year’s Eve (Sunday brunch crew/trivia team: details on this to come).

I’m really starting to warm up to McGuinness. If I continue to have fun there I will grant the place co-equal status with the Saucer.

Plans for tonight: A beer at either Saucer or McGuinness (whichever I feel like going to) around 7, then Hoop’s Bar/EP’s at 8 and for the remainder of the evening.

How to score free drinks at EP’s tonight

It’s Thursday night, probably the best night of the week to go to EP’s. If you listen to Q107.5, you can find out how to get on their “VEP” list which will get you free drinks at Hoop’s Bar from 8 to 9. You’ll get free food as well to take the edge off all the drinks. Only catch is you’ll have Kennedy screaming at you to tip your bartenders.

EP’s/Hoop’s is where I’ll be from 8 on tonight.

Reader feedback: What makes a good bar?

One of my favorite readers sent a response to my “Why don’t some bars have regular crowds?/Your drink prices are too high” post from a couple of days back. She made some excellent comments, so I asked for and received permission to post her e-mail here.

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Your question about what bar owners can do to create a regular Downtown clientele was interesting to me. I have a few suggestions from my viewpoint:

1. Any bartender who remembers my name really gets my attention
2. Any bartender who remembers my favorite drink gets double my attention (Pearl’s, The Big Foot, E&H, Westy’s)
3. Any bar which goes the extra mile to fix a SIMPLE drink, like a Bloody Mary, gets extra points (i.e. extra good drink mix ~ like The Big Foot (on occasion even hand-made); extra garnishes (olives, okra on a stick, celery, or the best, again at Pearl’s, a shrimp perched on the corner of the glass. Salt around the rim of the glass, or powdered sugar on the rim of a Wedding Cake Marguerita, pure heaven! It’s all in the presentation. And some bars don’t even wipe off the counter when you sit down.
4. Bar snacks are greatly appreciated; don’t have to be fancy; it’s the thought that counts.
5. A hook under the bar for my purse; such a little thing, but so nice to get those big clunky purses out of the way and feel they are SECURE.
6. Clean and attractive restrooms. Need I say more? Oh, yes, someone, ANYONE on staff whose duty it is to regularly (every 45 minutes at least) check the restrooms and fix whatever is not right, esp. on busy weekends. (Sawaddi was always nice)
7. A bar which carries ALL the sports channels, and bartenders who actually know what the Big Games of the Day are.
8. Female bartenders who actually LIKE female customers and don’t ignore them in their zeal to wait on guys. Yes, this can be an irritating problem Downtown. (the Saucer can be bad about this, and SleepOut Louie’s was horrendous about ignoring women and catering to guys)
9. Bartenders who help make single women and small groups of women feel secure and safe (Majestic, Automatic Slims).
10. Bars who keep panhandlers out and away from the doors. (****** at E&H is a master at this.)
11. Great food goes without saying, but great food LATE at night is the best. (Westy’s, Big Foot)
12. Friendliness, whether I am having a Coke or a $12 lambic.
13. ATTENTIVE bartenders. I cannot tell you how many times I will sit with an empty glass for thirty minutes or more and cannot get the attention of the bartender when I am right under their nose at the bar. That just drives me crazy!
14. Having the chef come out and ask you how your food is (EP’s), and having the bartender ask if your drink is okay. An owner who actually is present in the bar and talks to the customers.

WOW, I had no idea I had so many preferences! This is kind of more what I think a good bar should be like instead of HOW TO ATTRACT A REGULAR CROWD. But I guess that it is the same thing, basically.

To sum it up, I guess I would just describe it as a feeling of belonging that either comes quickly or doesn’t, feeling appreciated, catered to, actually liked by a friendly staff who seem to like their job and people.

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(This is Paul again) Great feedback, thanks. I’m tempted to make a comment about attentiveness, and how I’ve noticed attentiveness among servers and bartenders dropping off at several places Downtown the past few months, and there’s a reason for it that fits in the palm of your hand… nah, I’ll save it for a later post.

IMPORTANT CORRECTION to Majestic gift card post

I just found out that by orders of the state, the Majestic is not allowed to let people purchase alcohol with the 50% discount gift cards they’re selling from 9 to 6 today. So they’re good for food only. I apologize for any inconvenience my earlier post may have caused. I just found out the corrected info from one of the owners 5 minutes ago.

50% off their food is still a good deal though.