Paul Ryburn's Journal

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.

Tonight I’m meeting Channel 3 for an interview.  They saw my post on the Downtown safety patrol, and how we may not be able to keep them around if it’s not fully funded by local businesses and stakeholders.  (No tax money goes toward funding the patrol.)  They’re meeting me at one of Downtown’s panhandling hotspots at 7 tonight to talk about it.  Not sure when the story will air, could be as early as 10 tonight.  Turn on the news and look for me if you’re in front of a TV at that hour.

Had a very important demo at 12:30 today, so no time to do a lunchtime post, sorry.  Real quick update… don’t forget Big Foot Lodge’s back to school party tonight.  $2 Super Cold 34 oz. Coors Light, $4 Red Bull and vodka, $4 Blue Anchor and Flying Moose.  There will be a DJ and the party kicks off at 8 PM.  Also, the Dempseys play the Saucer tonight, starting at 9:30 with a $3 cover.  So I guess I’ll hit the Big Foot party for the first hour or so, then head to the Saucer.  Should be a fun night.

The Downtown safety patrol has had some big successes in the past 5 months.  Most recently they found out the name of the panhandler who has been asking for money claiming it’s a donation for St. Jude.  During their first 12 weeks on the job, they responded to 476 requests from Downtown residents and visitors, mostly panhandling requests.

Downtown is statistically the safest neighborhood in Memphis, but like many urban areas, it sees its share of quality of life crimes like panhandling, public intoxication, and disorderly conduct.  This can cause visitors to conclude that Downtown is not safe, and keep them from wanting to come back and spend money at Downtown businesses.

The Downtown safety patrol runs from 8 AM-9 PM Sunday-Wednesday and 8 AM-11 PM Thursday-Saturday.  There are two officers on bike on duty during these hours.  They have received 36 hours of training from private security firm CDA, Inc., and 28 additional hours of training by the Shelby County Sheriff’s Department.  (One of those hours of training was provided by myself and Handling-Panhandling co-founder Mike King.  We educated them on common panhandling gimmicks and gave them color printouts with photos and MO’s of some of Downtown’s most active aggressive panhandlers.)  They stay in regular communication with the Memphis Police and can call them in if a situation warrants it.  Also, by being on the streets 13-15 hours a day, they have learned where the true hotspots are for panhandling and other crimes, and they have passed this data onto MPD so officers can be utilized more effectively.

The program costs $200,000 to operate, and will not be able to continue if funding is not provided by stakeholders and business owners.  Suggested donations for businesses include

• $250/year for businesses with less than 5 employees
• $500/year for 6-25 employees
• $1000/year for 25-50 employees
• $2500/year for 50-100 employees
• $5000/year for more than 1000 employees

Contributions are tax deductible.  You can contact Larry Bloom at bloom@downtownmemphis.com or at 901-575-0562 if you would like to contribute.

Please forward this post to Downtown business owners.  If you remember how things were before April 1 – when the panhandlers and thugs had free run of the streets – then you understand how vital it is to keep the Downtown safety patrol in place.

Major success in the fight against the panhandlers… this morning, I learned the identity of the guy who has been going around selling the Downtown Merchant Guide and other free magazines, claiming the money is for donations for St. Jude.  The information came from the CCC so it appears that the Downtown Safety Patrol were the ones responsible for uncovering his identity.  Great work!

I’m not going to post his name here, but his name, picture, date of birth, and a summary of his extensive criminal record (including felonies such as assault, drug charges, aggravated robbery, and grand larceny) are on the Handling-Panhandling online forum.  If you’re fed up with criminal panhandlers like this guy, click the link to join the forum and help us clean up the streets of Downtown Memphis.

By the way, for his last two arrests (the most recent being August 8) he had a listed address in the Highland-Park area.  So much for the mistaken belief that homeless and panhandlers are one and the same.

Working together as a community, we’re making life tough for the criminal panhandlers down here.  We’ve all but run Jumper Cable Guy out of Downtown.  Hopefully we can do the same for St. Jude Guy.  As I’ve said before, only the absolute scum of the earth would lie about representing a children’s charity to get money.

The team of St. Jude scientists (two of whom are pictured above), after a lot of trash talking, again lost to the Rapscallions at trivia last night.  That makes three weeks in a row they’ve lost to us, and three weeks in a row they’ve finished out of the prize money.  Their team name is “Finding Cures and Drinking Beers.”  Maybe it should be “Finding Cures, Drinking Beers, and Sucking at Trivia.”

The bad news is, two teams beat us, so we finished third with a $10 prize.  Still, not bad – in three weeks we’ve earned $110 in prize money.  The St. Jude scientists earned $0 over the same period, but I felt bad and gave them a quarter so they could say their time spent at trivia wasn’t a total waste.

There’s a bum on the streets who claims to be taking donations for St. Jude…  maybe the St. Jude team should invite him to join.  I’m sure he’d raise the collective IQ of the group, and I bet he’d be willing to do it if the team bought him beer for the duration of the trivia match.  They would probably want to hide their purses, cell phones, and other valuables while he’s around though.

Or, perhaps the St. Jude team should think about re-locating to the East Bumblefuck Saucer for Tuesday trivia… I’ve heard they have to dumb down the questions out there because it’s Cordova.  Or they could go to Tug’s on the Island for Tuesday trivia – no idea about the difficulty of that one, but the fact that the Rapscallions aren’t there would greatly their chances of winning a prize.

Time to head to work… apologies to all my readers who pulled up the blog this morning looking for useful information, and found this instead.

According to this website, the inventory of Platinum Plus is to be auctioned off “Saturday, September 11” (don’t ask me if they mean Thursday the 11th or Saturday the 13th, I don’t know).  Platinum Plus aka the Mt. Moriah Center for the Performing Arts was shut down by the feds a couple of years ago, and the government, who now owns the inventory, is now auctioning it off.  Items you can bid on include

• Cash registers that once held money from (allegedly) illegal transactions
• 3-year old bottles of Corona
• Outfits once worn by some of the nastiest whores in town
• Furniture that said whores have rubbed their private parts all over

Sounds like a winner, huh?  Check the site for more details.