Paul Ryburn's Journal

Heading over to a friend’s condo to watch the Tennessee vs. LSU championship game at 3. Most of the people there are Tennessee fans and it’s an orange-and-white party. I’m really ambivalent toward Tennessee; I’ve never understood why I should root for a team at the entire other end of the state. But then, I have no more reason to root for LSU that Tennessee, and our friend Chuck is cooking his beef brisket for the party. I’m willing to put on orange for brisket.

Leaving at halftime to go change for a progressive party of sorts that I’m attending tonight. There will be photos – camera is on the charger now so it’s good and ready. Attn Camera Nazi: I’m down to one battery, which means about 130 pictures, so we’ll need to pace the picture taking. It’s a private party so I can’t reveal details, but I will say that I will end up the evening at Raiford’s from roughly 11:30 to close. Yes, CLOSE. Anyone reading this who plans to go to Raiford’s tonight will have to deal with my drunk ass, and I do not plan on being on my best behavior.

Weather update: The low tonight is predicted to be only 58. So those of you attending the same party I am may want to take it easy on layering clothing, or you may die of heat exhaustion.

Thanks to my newest MySpace friends, the ’80s cover hair band Aquanet, for sending out a MySpace bulletin letting everyone know about my blog. Looking forward to catching you at the Saucer or elsewhere Downtown sometime soon.

More music news – the British Invasion cover band Jeffrey and the Pacemakers will perform at the Buccaneer (1368 Monroe) tomorrow afternoon from 4 to 7. Here’s a poster for the show:

This band is the brainchild of musician Jeff Golightly, who also plays solo around town doing Beatles covers.

That’s all for now. Gotta run to Walgreens or somewhere nearby and buy a children’s toy to donate.

Here’s the menu for Sunday supper this Sunday at the Majestic Grille from 4 to 8 PM (click for larger image):

$60 feeds 4 people in a family-style meal, or if you have less than 4 they’ll box the leftovers. The Susan Marshall Band will supply holiday music. 4-8 PM, call 522-4555 to make reservations.

Don’t know if we’ll make it to Sunday supper but we’ll sure be at brunch at the Majestic this Sunday.

I lasted a grand total of one hour at the Saucer and one hour at Trolley Tour before exhaustion set in. Tomorrow’s going to be a big day, so I’m taking a recovery night tonight.

First of all, some big, big, BIG news. This is really huge. You will probably want to bookmark this post to refer to over and over again when you read what I’m about to tell you.

Jack’s Food Store now has Busch beer 12-packs in a “Special Edition Hunting Package.” No kidding. It’s camouflaged and everything.

I’d like to ask my fellow Downtowners to try and be considerate and not trample each other as you rush to Jack’s.

What a smart marketing move on Busch’s part… now you can bring your beer into the woods with you and the deer won’t even see it! Because, you know, getting wasted while you’re holding a loaded shotgun is a great idea.

Memphis in May is having a holiday sale. Here’s a poster with the details (click for larger image):

At the sale you can pick up merchandise from past Memphis in May events at discount prices. 88 Union Center, next week Dec. 3-7. Click the flyer for more details, I’m too lazy to type them. What a convenient way to get all your holiday shopping done! Nothing says “I love you” like a 2004 BBQ Fest T-shirt.

Tonight I’ll be at the South Main Trolley Art Tour… you know the deal, most of the South Main art galleries put out free wine and snacks and open their doors from 6 to 9. All the stores will be decorated for Christmas and it should be really fun and worth withstanding the cold.

After Trolley Tour ends… don’t know. Maybe E&H. Maybe Pearl’s. Maybe Hoop’s Bar, if the EP’s crowd doesn’t spill over into it too much. Saucer sucks on weekend nights so probably not there. Not enough energy to do Raiford’s and I’ll be there tomorrow night anyway.

Snozberry plays the Saucer tomorrow night… won’t be there for their entire show but I imagine I’ll be stumbling through there sometime around 10 or 10:30 for one beer.

If you missed the Hannah Montana show last night at the FedExForum, journalist “Skippy” Blank has a recap. Skippy is a huge Hannah Montana fan and was the perfect person for the CA to send to write the story.

Time to go to work. I really enjoy my new job, but I ain’t gonna lie, I’m glad it’s Friday.

Last night I hit Circa for their Wednesday night happy hour special, $8 wine flights. You get three 2 oz. pours per flight. The bartender started describing the different flights, and I quickly realized that I don’t know nearly as much about wine as I know about beer. “I like white wine,” I told her. “Pick something for me.” So she did.

All three were good but the one on the right was my favorite. I should’ve taken notes for my next trip to the liquor store.

After Circa we moved down the street to Sauces, where our friend Ugly Steve was bartending.

Ugly was one of my bartenders during EP’s: The Early Days. Good to see him back behind a bar, and I predict that Sauces will have a regular Downtown crowd with him there.

After that it was time to hit the Saucer, where they had a tolerable fire sale (Flying Dog Tire Bite) for once. And after that it was on to Hoop’s Bar.

Hung out there mostly, wandering into EP’s when it was time to recycle beer. I always go down to the first floor restrooms so I can see the entire place. Interesting crowd last night.

Hoop’s Bar now has food, and so I got their version of Paul’s Drunkass Wings to go. Their wings are meaty and breaded. Attn Ranch Girl: They apparently get their ranch from the same place as the Saucer.

Plans for tonight: Saucer, then Hoop’s Bar/EP’s. I need to e-mail my friend Kennedy and find out if the “VEP” promotion is happening this week. If so I’ll post details.

Just took a walk and discovered that Roma Pizza, Pasta, Subs and More at the corner of Third and Court is open for business. So, of course, my walk break turned into my lunch break and I went in and ordered. It’s all laid out at the counter Sbarro-style, but better food than what you’d find in a mall. They’ve got dinner-sized salads, whole pizzas, stuffed pizzas, pizza by the slice, pizza rolls, pasta dishes, subs, side orders, and desserts.

Prices are quite reasonable. I ordered the lasagna for $6.99, and got this huge hunk of lasagna, house salad with Italian dressing (Thousand Island and RANCH are also available), and garlic rolls. There’s no way I’m going to be able to finish all this food. Subs are also a good deal for the money – I saw someone get a 12″ meatball sub for $6.50.

Didn’t try the desserts, but I ran into my landlord on the way over there and he recommended the tiramisu highly.

He also told me that the place is open until 9 at night, so Downtowners have a new place to get dinner. Not sure if that’s every night of the week or just some. They need to put their hours on their to-go menu.

Unfortunately I didn’t have the camera with me, so no pics. Sorry.

Well worth checking out for lunch or dinner. We need more affordable places to eat down here.

We’ll start off with a link that came across one of the RSS feeds I subscribe to: WikiHow’s article on How to deal with a bad kisser. Hmmm… my only thought on the matter is that if you consistent have to deal with bad kissers, it’s probably you and not the other person.

You know, that reminds me… I haven’t kissed anyone at the new Raiford’s since it reopened. I’ve definitely been slacking in that regard. Pinning a girl up against the back wall of the dance floor and passionately kissing her is the BEST. Assuming she’s indicated that she wants to be kissed, of course.

Maybe I’ll break my losing streak there Saturday night… looks like I’ll be stumbling into Raiford’s around 11:30 or so. However, this time I won’t be in an outfit that stands out from the crowd. So if I can convince any girls to kiss me I’ll have to do it on personality alone. (I can just hear Otto saying, “Yeah, good luck with that.” Shut up.) This time I’m determined to last until the place closes. No power-drinking 40s as soon as I arrive.

Next up: One of my blog readers was nice enough to send some images from the 1977 JCPenney catalog, and I can’t resist posting a few of them.

Man… someone needs to open up a vintage clothing store Downtown so I can buy cool outfits like those.

Yesterday I posted a mathematical formula that’s supposed to be the socially acceptable limit of how much younger a person you can date/hook up with – half your age plus seven. My favorite blogger/MILF responded, “So is there a formula for calculating ‘How old is too old’? I must say, if it went along the lines of ADDING half of my age plus seven… I could work with that. ;)”

Hmmm… 22 + (half of 22) + 7 = 22 + 11 + 7 = 33 + 7 = 40. Works for me!

Currently on my living room floor:
The clothes I wore last night
The clothes I wore Monday night
The clothes I wore Sunday night
The clothes I wore Saturday night
The clothes I wore Friday night
The clothes I wore Thursday night
The clothes I wore Wednesday night

Great article on The Warehouse in this morning’s paper. The owner, Kris K, really personifies all that is wonderful about Downtown Memphis.

Plans for this evening: I’ll hit the Saucer about 5. If the Fire Sale is good I’ll stay for a while. If it sucks I’ll have one happy hour Dos Equis Special Lager and then move to Circa and try their happy hour. I had discussed maybe hitting the Wednesday night EP’s thing with some people but am not sure I’ll have the energy for it this week… will definitely be at EP’s tomorrow night though.

Shout out to regular blog reader Nick: Glad you could join us for trivia last night, and thanks for the beer. You’re most definitely welcome to hang out with us anytime.

I must’ve been drunk when I got home last night. Woke up this morning to find Paul’s Drunkass Wings from Big Foot on the TV tray, and it looks like I managed to make it through one and a half wings (out of 12) and half a stick of celery before I passed out. Well that was a good use of $5.99.

Guess it’s time to go to work now.

I see that my friend Skippy has been reading my blog. He e-mailed a response about my wish for NTN Trivia Downtown so I can kick his ass:

“Oh, how I hope somebody gets NTN trivia so your specious taunts can finally be laid to rest, Pauly. There’s more to knowledge than Grover Cleveland’s wife’s maiden name, buddy. There’s Brittany Spears and Hannah Montana – and I am an expert in both.”

Um. Dude. If you’re going to claim to be an expert, at least learn how to spell “Britney” correctly.

Last year I reported that a new neighborhood bar would open on Monroe, in the old Mike’s location across from the Shrine. It was to be called Bar Dogs, I was told, and would cater to locals and stay open late for service industry people who get off work.

Work stopped in the spring and I heard no more about the place for months. Well, this weekend I heard that construction has resumed, and someone who knows the people doing it estimated it at about four months away. Anyone got more details about this place? This is all second-hand information so take it with a grain of salt, but I sure want to believe it.

Sure would be happy to see a Sleep Out’s-type bar open up a block from where I live. Although, it could have a side effect of splitting our Downtown gang in two, as the Monkey is opening soon as well, and half the gang lives a short walk to the Monkey and the other half a short walk to Bar Dogs. In that case I guess the Saucer and Hoop’s Bar would serve as common meeting places when we want to get everyone together.

Wonder if they’ll do a Sunday brunch? Currently the plan is to move to the Monkey for brunch when it opens, but if Bar Dogs does a good one (and especially if they get NTN Trivia so I can kick Skippy’s ass) I may lobby the group for a two-and-two arrangement like we currently do at Majestic and McGuinness.

It’s all just speculation for now though… again, if anyone has the inside scoop on Bar Dogs shoot me an e-mail at paul@paulryburn.com.

Just found an interesting page on Wikipedia, almost by accident.

Last night I heard that a Downtown restaurant – I won’t name it but valet parking is a prominent feature – has a reputation as “The Cougar Lounge.” Meaning, cougars from Germantown sit at the bar and try to pick up younger men.

So I looked up “cougar” on Wikipedia, figuring I’d link to it for those who don’t know what a cougar is, and it led me to this page on age disparity in sexual relationships. Not only is there a section defining “cougar,” but other similar terms as well, such as chicken hawk, sugar daddy, MILF, jailbait, and so on.

It also has a formula (which I’ve heard of before) to compute the minimum socially acceptable age of people you can hook up with – half your age plus seven. According to that formula I shouldn’t be trying to hook up with anyone under 26. I don’t think I like that formula.

I can’t believe the quote “If there’s grass on the field, play ball” didn’t get explained somewhere on the page though.

Just got e-mail from chef John Bragg of Circa, letting me know about various things going on there. I was particularly impressed with what they’re doing for happy hour, and wanted to pass on the information.

Circa Happy Hour Promotions:Mondays: $5 Martinis

Tuesdays: All Beers including Microbrews and Imports* $2.50

Wednesdays: Wine Flights – $8

Thursdays: Scotch Night – All Single Malts $2.00 off

Fridays & Saturdays: Complimentary Hors d’ Ouvres in the Bar

Sundays: Tasting Menu with Wine Parings – $45 per person

snaCks

all $3

Crawfish Beignets with Red Pepper Remoulade

Crab Cake with Mustard Aioli

Fried Oysters with Red Chili Glaze

Fresh Oysters on the Half Shell

Smoked Salmon and Potato Galette

Grilled Beef Brochette

Seared Hawaiian Big Eye Tuna with Sesame-Chile Sauce

I’m especially impressed with the “snaCks” section, which is similar to what the Daily Grill does. Circa can definitely expect to see me sometime this week to check the happy hour out, although it won’t be tonight because I have to reserve our spot for trivia night down the street.Only made it through 6 beers at Pint Nite last night. Maybe having a job really is slowing me down.