Paul Ryburn's Journal

I’ve been asked a couple of times the past week, “Will Bardog Tavern [which opens Friday at 7 PM] allow smoking?”

My answer is, “1) If you’d quit your filthy, nasty, disgusting habit, it wouldn’t matter; and 2) yes, they will, upstairs.  Downstairs will be table seating and will be nonsmoking.”

Sitting at Hoop’s Bar typing this (drunk post).  Flying Saucer bartender Lazy Do-Nothing Sit-On-Her-Ass-All-Day Brittney is sitting a couple of seats down from me acting like the queen bee with the three dudes who are hanging out with her tonight.  People are playing Wii Bowling.  I’m drinking a can of PBR.

Coming up this week:  First Church still needs your help to rebuild; an explantion of why I’m okay with St. Jude Bum’s “nolle prosequi” verdict (but I still have questions for the DA); a review of the first Downtown Alive! after-work concert; and I have yet ANOTHER website to roll out.

Lots to talk about this afternoon.  But first, it’s time to roll out my newest website creation:

Energy Drinks, Mints and Gum is a storefront that places the energy products that Amazon.com sells together in one convenient location.  You can get many of these products, when you buy them in bulk in packs of 12 or 24, for less than half what you would pay if you walked down to the convenience store and bought them.  The store carries caffeinated mints and gum, energy drinks like Red Bull, Rockstar, and pretty much every other brand out there, and the little energy shots like 5 Hour Power.

If you use these products to stay awake, check out the store, save some money.  I guess the cat’s out of the bag now, how I can stay out at bars ’til 1 or sometimes even 2 AM and still be productive at 8:30 at work.  Well, Mountain Dew plays a role as well.  My health guru AL will be happy to see that the store carries an acai-based energy product.

There’s a new promotion for those discount restaurant gift certificates I talk about from time to time.  From now through September 21, you can enter coupon code FESTIVE at checkout and get 60% off the normal price.  That means their $25 face-value gift certificates, which normally sell for $10, are now $4.  Many restaurants Downtown are part of this program; scroll to the bottom of this blog’s right sidebar and enter 38103 in the zip code search to see which ones participate.  Some restrictions apply – be sure to read each restaurant’s restrictions before you put its certificate in your shopping cart.

The Center City Commission won an international award this week for its Downtown Alive! lunch program.  The program offered concerts, performances, and walking tours of Downtown at lunchtime in the spring.  Downtown Alive! starts up again tomorrow with an after-work concert in Gayoso Alley.

South Main Oktoberfest, sponsored by BankTennessee, will take place this Sunday, September 21 from 3 to 7 on the courtyard of Harry’s Detour at 106 GE Patterson.  Bratwurst, beverages, music and more; beer provided by Boscos Brewery.  Free to South Main Association members; $10 cover for non-members, or you can join the SMA at the event and have membership privileges through the end of 2009.

Shelton Clothiers will have their Fall Trunk Show this Saturday at their store on the Main Street Mall.  Come enjoy jazz on Main Street and Bloody Marys from 11 AM to 3 PM.  Made-to-measure suits from $550; two for $995.

I’m now hearing that the Silly Goose will open in the former Swig space sooner than I previously reported.  They’re now shooting for November, assuming inspections, licenses, etc. don’t cause delays.

Time to go play trivia – my two St. Jude scientist friends e-mailed to let me know that they won’t be there this week, but it’s not because the Rapscallions have run them away.  We haven’t run them away YET. 

(Edit 1:39 PM:  Larry Bloom the security director for the CCC e-mailed me and provided a valid explanation of why the charge was handled this way.  I’ll post more about it later but it’s lengthy and I have work I have to do right now.  Suffice to say, there is a good explanation for what happened with St. Jude Guy, and the prosecutor in that court division is on our side.)

Update on St. Jude Bum’s trip to jail:  He went to court yesterday on both his original charge of “throw missile/begging/gaming prohib” and the contempt of court charge he faced for not showing up to court to answer the first charge.

The outcome?  Both charges were labeled “nolle prosequi.”  That’s legal-talk for “the prosecutor decided not to pursue charges.”  So after all the work Handling-Panhandling, the Downtown Safety Patrol, and the Memphis Police Department did to get this guy off the streets, he was let off scot-free because a prosecutor was too lazy to do his damn job.

It was General Sessions Court, Division 14 where St. Jude Bum had to appear.  That’s Judge Larry Potter’s court, but I tend to believe the fault lies with the prosecutor, not the judge, as Judge Potter has worked with the CCC on initiatives to curb panhandling in the past.

Keep in mind that St. Jude Bum is not a poor, innocent homeless man, but rather a criminal who has felonies on his record including thefts, assaults, and drug charges, in addition to numerous panhandling and disorderly conduct charges.  And now he’s back on the streets of Downtown Memphis to cause more trouble.  Just great.

For those who haven’t been following along, he’s nicknamed “St. Jude Bum” because he tells people he’s collecting donations for St. Jude when he panhandles them.  Believe me, the money he gets does NOT go to St. Jude, unless St. Jude operates a liquor store I don’t know about.

If anyone knows the phone number of the appropriate person in the District Attorney’s office to call and complain, please send it to me (paul@paulryburn.com) and I’ll post it.  E-mail contact would be nice too.  I would love for the DA to get about 100 complaints about this.

This one will have to be quick, because I gotta get to work…

Important article to read in today’s CA… MPD is asking private individuals and firms with video cameras to register their cameras with CyberWatch.  That way, MPD knows those cameras are there and can ask for their video when investigating incidents.  There are a lot of cameras pointing at alleyways in the Downtown area, and it is very important that the owners of these cameras let MPD know about them.  I’ve heard of several incidents over the years where criminals hide out in alleys and wait for passersby to rob as they take a shortcut to their car, home or hotel.  Video from private cameras would help MPD identify these crooks, and over time the bad guys would become afraid to hang out in alleys for fear they are being watched.

One other item… I heard this weekend that the BP on Riverside has really tasty, big, meaty frog legs for lunch on Fridays.  Yeah I know that doesn’t do anyone much good on a Tuesday, but if I wait until Friday I’ll forget.  Make a note on your calendar.

Okay, off to work, more at lunchtime.  Got another website ready to roll out.

Planning out what looks to be a full week… let’s see what’s going on…

Tonight there are NFL-watching parties at Big Foot Lodge and the Red Rooster with beer and drink specials.  In addition to those parties, there’s always $1.50 PBR at Calhoun’s, and 5 LCD TVs on which to watch the game.  At the Flying Saucer, it’s $2.75 Pint Nite, with 2 huge projection TVs, 3 LCDs, and 2 CRTs for the game.  The Tap Room has $1 PBR pints and 4 flat-panel TVs (can’t remember if they’re LCD or plasma).

If football is not your thing, there’s $10 all-you-can-bowl at Jillian’s, and team trivia night at Huey’s at 9 PM.

Tuesday night is trivia night at the Saucer, of course, 7 PM.  If the St. Jude team is too embarrassed to return after getting clobbered by us 3 weeks in a row, there’s also trivia at Tug’s on Mud Island (8:30 PM) and the East Bumblefuck Saucer (7 PM).

Wednesday is the first of five weekly concerts in the Downtown Alive! concert series.  This one will be “Neosoulville,” in Gayoso Alley at Peabody Place, with Will Graves, Kelly Hurt, Tonya Dyson, Lila, and Tim Terry.  The alley is off Peabody Place between Front and Main.  Vending starts at 4:30 PM, music at 5, and will continue until 8:30 PM.  Because of the nature of the venue, blankets and chairs are not recommended, but it will be a great place to mingle with people who work and/or live Downtown.  Lots of great restaurants on that block too – Bluefin, Circa, the Majestic Grille – if you’re hungry after the show.  More info here.  I think they’re still looking for a bartender to work that evening.  If you have a current ABC license shoot me an e-mail (paul@paulryburn.com) and I’ll get you in touch with the person in charge.

Not sure what’s going on Thursday.  Friday is the opening of Bardog Tavern on Monroe.  It’ll be open into the AM, so I probably won’t start out there right after work… maybe I’ll go to the Saucer and round up a posse to take over to Bardog.

In other news… First United Methodist Church will begin rebuilding October 5.  That’s two years minus one day after it burned to the ground in the early morning.

The “On the River Seafood and More” place at 51 S. Main now has a scrolling sign in its window saying it will be open Monday, Sept. 22.  That’s next Monday.

Dr. Booze had a post on his blog this morning about a book called The Newly Non-Drinking Girl’s Guide to Pregnancy which helps women get through 40 weeks of pregnancy without alcohol. Would make a good gift if you know someone who got knocked up recently.

That’s it for now, picking up a burger, heading back to work.

364 days until the next Cooper-Young Festival… I’ll have a recap of yesterday in a moment, but first it’s time to roll out my latest website:

The Action Figure Collector Shop sells hard-to-find action figures, and ones that you never knew existed.  I got the idea for this store when I was building Rat Race Resources and found a series of cubicle action figures.  I decided to see what else was available on Amazon, and there were quite a few wild and weird ones, including the Crazy Cat Lady action figure, Mr. Bacon vs. Monsieur Tofu, Jon Bon Jovi, memorable past presidents, Barack Obama, John McCain, religious figures, The Fonz jumping the shark, and dozens more.  Check it out – even if you don’t buy any of the action figures, you’ll get a good laugh out of the site.

Cooper-Young was fun as always, although I wish the cooler weather expected for this week had arrived yesterday.  It was in the upper 80s and the bike ride out there nearly killed me.  Once I got to the festival, though, it was a great time.  Highlights included the delicious chicken philly crepe I had from Crepe Maker, and hanging out at Dr. Bob’s booth for a significant part of the day.

Here’s a pic of the Nuh-Uh Girl, in a tube top, eating a pretzel:

Hmmm… let me check my wallet… I had $126 after stopping at the ATM on the way to Cooper-Young… now how much do I have left… $54.  So I spent $72 on food, beer, and Gatorade on the bike ride there and back.  Yeah that sounds like a typical C-Y Fest.  In addition to the crepe, I had a slice of pizza from Garibaldi’s, a beef and lamb gyro, and numerous cans of PBR.

I stayed past the end of the festival, catching the Kings of the Delta on Celtic Crossing’s patio.  Darbi and Kristin were there.  “Did you ever appoint a BFF for September?” they asked.  No, because quite honestly, I forgot.  “So I guess we’re still your BFFs then,” they said.  “Well, look,” and they showed me the “Paul is my BFF” panties they had on.  No kidding, they really did create them on CafePress and order them.

Fun day.  Today is recovery day… there’s no way I’ll make it to brunch (it’s week 1 Blue Monkey, for those who check the blog to keep up with such things).  I’ll probably hit the Saucer about 2 with the backpack, beat Pete at pool a few times, then pull out the laptop and work on more websites.

It’s just before 8 in the morning, and I’m up on a Saturday.  Gonna get dressed, put some air in the bike’s tires, and ride down to the Cooper-Young Festival.  Looks like any rain we get from Hurricane Ike won’t be here until tomorrow morning, so I should be OK to ride.  A few things before I go though…

First of all, if you’re not planning to go to the festival and want to watch football, don’t forget that Calhoun’s is now opening early for the games.  They open at 11 today I believe, and Best Pool Partner Ever Lauren is back bartending the morning shift.  They have the ESPN college game day TV package.  They also have a featured game every week.  If you’re there for the entire game, and the team they pick covers the spread in the featured game, you get 25% off your tab.  Just think about it… that’s 37 and a half cents off every $1.50 PBR you order!

Last night at the Saucer, I ran into the owner of Bardog Tavern on Friday, and he told me that next Friday, September 19, will likely be the opening day.  Can’t wait.  A neighborhood bar less than a block from home… love it.

I also walked by 51 S. Main yesterday and noticed that restaurant-to-come-soon On the River Seafood and More now has its hours in the window.  It’ll be open until 8 Monday-Thursday, 10 Friday, and midnight Saturday.  So Downtowners will have another place to get good seafood for dinner.

Dr. Bob will have a booth at the festival selling his artwork, and I’ll probably spend a fair amount of time in there today reminiscing about all the times I beat Pete at pool.  Around 10:30 I’ll get there, lock the bike to the nearest available street sign, and then I’ll be out on the street until the festival ends at 7:00.  No breaks this year, except to the convenience store to load up on PBR tallboys.

Looking forward to having a beer with fellow blogger Buck Daddy at the fest.  Buck Daddy, by the way, has info on a meet and greet with WWE Superstars happening tomorrow at Stereo One in East Bumblefuck.  WWE Monday Night Raw will be broadcast from the FedExForum this Monday.

Thanks in advance to Bicycle Bobby, who is going to ride by the Saucer and check the Fire Sale and text it to me, so I can update “what’s the fire sale?” on the blog.  Outta here, see you at Cooper-Young.

Tonight I told myself, if I go out, no more than 2 beers, because I’ve got to rest up for Cooper-Young tomorrow.  So what happened?  I had 3 beers at the bar then tabbed out.  Then ran into other people I knew and had 3 more that I ordered from one of the waitresses.  Then I decided it was time for Paul’s Drunkass Food and headed to Big Foot… but was SHOCKED to see that Meghan had a full bar.  Must’ve been tourists.  So I thought, “where else can I get a quick burger?” and realized it wasn’t 10 yet and therefore the Flying Fish was still open.  Although known for their seafood, the Fish has a burger on their menu.  So I decided to give it a try.

So I went to the Fish and ordered it to go.  “It’ll be a 10 minute wait,” I thought.  “Better order a beer to pass the time.”  And I looked in the cooler and not only did they have PBR cans, but Busch cans and PBR Light cans as well!  First time I have seen PBR Light Downtown.  Domestic price is $2.75.

Nevertheless, I ordered PBR regular to drink while I waited.  At home eating the burger now.  See you at Cooper-Young Fest tomorrow.

The Memphis Business Journal reports that a new lounge called The Silly Goose will open in the space formerly occupied by Swig by December.  It will be operated by several partners who know the area well, including Daniel Masters who used to bartend at Dan McGuinness.  It will be a laid-back lounge, the article states, a place for locals to go, with over 400 different types of liquor.  They’ll have plenty of wine and beer on hand too.  They’ll serve lunch and dinner, and will have a happy hour from 3 to 8 PM and a second happy hour from 11 PM to 3 AM.  I can’t wait for this place to open.

Fun times at Big Foot’s party last night.  I got there at 8 before the place got crowded and drank a Super Cold Coors Light.  Several times I’ve noticed the Super Cold machine and thought, wow, they made it look like it’s covered in ice.  Well, last night I found out how they did it… it really is ice all over the machine.  So you truly are getting beer at below-freezing temperatures.

They had Meghan out from behind the bar, hostessing in a low-cut blouse and one of her old Flying Saucer miniskirts and not serving any customers.  Truly Big Foot has discovered how to best utilize Meghan’s talents.  My compliments to whomever placed a fan near the kitchen entrance, which blew her skirt up every time she walked by.

Plans for tonight:  None whatsoever.  I need a good night’s rest to be ready to go for the Cooper-Young Festival tomorrow.  I’ve decided I’m going to ride my bike down there… I plan on getting there around 10:30, and will be at the festival until it ends at 7.  Mmmm… looking forward to a day of festival food.  Gyros and pizza and stuff.  I hope those nachos from Germantown Commissary are back this year.  I also hope that the convenience store at Cooper and Evelyn has stocked up on PBR tall-boys.

More news later… check back.

This is going to be the condensed version because it’s 1 AM.

I had an interview with Channel 3 at 7 PM about the benefits of the Downtown safety patrol.  At 6:45 I got a call from Mike King, the co-moderator of the Handling-Panhandling group.  He told me St. Jude Bum, the guy who panhandles and tells people that the money they give him is a St. Jude donation, was at the Elvis statue.  Did I mention that St. Jude bum had an oustanding warrant?  Interestingly enough, my 7 PM interview was to take place at the Elvis statue.

Mike called the Downtown safety patrol.  They called the cops.  The cops showed up at precisely 7:01 PM.  I pointed him out and the cameras got a shot of St. Jude Bum being cuffed and put in a car.

I don’t remember what I said but it could not have possibly compared to that image.  Kudos to Mike on a job well done.

More to come tomorrow or this weekend.