Paul Ryburn's Journal

Last night, someone with whom I worked in the past on Mpact Memphis projects approached me, and asked if I could help recruit volunteers for one of the best outdoor festivals of the year. The Center for Southern Folklore’s Memphis Music & Heritage Festival will be held Saturday-Sunday, September 1-2 and, only 2 weeks away, they are badly in need of volunteers. This festival is a lot of fun, you’ll get to hear some great local music, and you’ll be working with some wonderful people, including Judy who runs the Center and Memphis poet IQ who serves as the MC for the event. Festival will be Downtown on the Main Street Mall between Gayoso and Peabody Place. Details below. Please consider signing up as a volunteer.

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Founded in 1972, the Center for Southern Folklore is a private, nonprofit organization whose mission is to preserve, defend, protect and promote the music, culture, arts, and rhythms of the South. The Center also offers music events and educational programs, maintains its multimedia archives, Folklore Store, and website.

For over two decades, the Center has produced its signature event, the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival. This free event presents the best of our region to visitors and locals, celebrating the changing face of Memphis and the Mid-South:

* Artists whose music has defined our region to the world
* Traditional and contemporary folk artists and craftspeople
* Southern & ethnic cooks
* Dancers, storytellers and representatives of their cultural communities

The Memphis Music & Heritage Festival is held Labor Day Weekend in downtown Memphis.

We request volunteer assistance from your organization in producing these events. We need to fill, in all, about 350 four-hour volunteer shifts. We are grateful for any volunteers that your organization can provide. Volunteers will perform a variety of tasks including the following:

* Assist with musicians, artists, craftspeople, & talkers
* Providing festivalgoers with information
* Festival t-shirt and merchandise sales
* Set-up, maintenance and tear-down of site
* Security and trolley guard
* Beer & beverage sales
* Serve and prepare Southern dinners
* Hospitality

A strong volunteer base is the key to making the Memphis Music & Heritage Festival a success. This success is measured in a tangible way by the smooth operations during the event and the financial gains realized in merchandise, food & beverage sales and donations. The intangible is in the feelings elicited from the spectators and the participants, who are excited about sharing their talents, stories, and culture.

Thinking a little bit more about the Bill Saba sandwich I had for breakfast last week at Elliott’s – sausage, bacon, ham, egg and cheese on Texas toast.

Here’s what I’m thinking – you know what would be really good on that sandwich? Horsey Sauce from Arby’s. Yummmm.

Unfortunately I don’t have any Horsey Sauce in the apartment, and I doubt it’s a good idea to eat more than about one of those sandwiches a month, anyway, so I guess I won’t head over to Elliott’s this morning.

Congrats to the Rapscallions, who took another second-place finish in trivia tonight to score another $25 gift certificate. We had about 12 people playing. Yoko didn’t make it this week though. There was a 21-point bonus question: Name the seven countries that border Poland. I love Eastern Europe questions almost as much as I love Eastern European girls! The answer: Germany, Russia, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Lithuania, Belarus, and the Ukraine.

Congrats also to the Nuh-Uh Girl, who finished her 199th beer last night, made the Saucer erase the leader board and put her name on it (because it’s all about the Nuh-Uh Girl), and then finished her 200th beer. So she’ll be in the Ring of Honor soon. Beers number 199 and 200 were extremely high-alcohol beers. I have a feeling the Nuh-Uh Girl is having a rough day at work today.

Don’t forget Elvis glass night at the Saucer, 7 PM (but you better get there early). Preview flyers they’ve put out indicate that they’re going with a G.I. Elvis theme this year.

Tonight is the first installment of Bands, Beer, and Bums: The Court Square Concert Series that will continue every Wednesday night until October 17. Garry Goin and G3 will kick it off tonight. They, of course, are EP Delta Kitchen’s house band, on a one-week hiatus while the club brings in an Elvis impersonator for the week.

Who knows, maybe the CCC’s Lee Warren will be out at the park interviewing people for his Definitely Downtown! TV show:

“So, what is it about the concert series that you like the most – the bands, the beer, or the bums?”

“Well, Lee, there’s some fantastic music here, and it’s always nice to enjoy a frosty beverage. But for me, the bums are the element that really makes the Court Square series what it is. They keep it real, you know what I mean? You can just feel their presence here… and you can certainly smell their presence, too.”

(Lee approaches another concertgoer) “So, what is it about the concert series that you like the most – the bands, the beer, or the bums?”

“Oh, most definitely the bums, Lee. They provide so many opportunities for people who come to these concerts to express their generosity. I’ve only been here 20 minutes, and already I’ve had five opportunities to give people ’bout fitty-three cent – see, there’s one of them over there, drinking something out of that paper bag.”

Event runs from 5:30 to 8:30 PM. Picnics, lawn chairs, and blankets welcome. Complete lineup for the 10-week concert series available here.

Just got a bulletin from the Peabody that Larry King will act as honorary duckmaster tomorrow morning, Wednesday, August 15. A special edition of “Larry King Live” will appear tomorrow night on CNN at 8 PM, with special guest Priscilla Presley doing a live interview from Graceland.

Ducks march at 11 AM.

– Well, the movie Underdog has been out for a couple of weeks now. The movie has been discussed among my group of friends… people are pointing out that nearly every cartoon character out there has been turned into a movie, and “when you get to Underdog, you’ve hit the bottom of the barrel.”

I disagree.

Ever eat a piece of Dubble Bubble bubble gum? On the wrapper are cartoons – “Fleer Funnies starring Pud.” When they get around to making a movie about Pud, then they’ve hit the bottom of the barrel.

– Friends of mine went to the National Civil Rights Museum yesterday, and discovered that admission is free on Mondays from 3 to 6 PM (3 to 5 PM September through May). So if you’ve never been to the civil rights museum, Monday afternoons are good times to check it out. The waived admission fee does not apply on Mondays that are holidays.

– Wednesday is the annual Elvis “buy the beer, keep the glass” night at the Flying Saucer. The glasses go on sale at 7 PM. Now, most weeks you can wander in at 8, 8:30 and still be able to get a glass – not so on Elvis week. If you even want a seat, you better be there by 6:15. Tell your waitress or bartender that you’d like to reserve one. Otherwise they’ll sell out and you’ll miss it.

I’ve been told that they’re making the waitresses dress up in Elvis glasses and sideburns. I have a feeling the girls are not real excited about this. Attn Saucer management: If you’re going to make them dress in character, can we have a Lady Godiva glass night?

– Crash Kole e-mailed me to tell me that his band Crash Kole and the BlueSouls will hold a CD release party Thursday, August 23 at Pearl’s Oyster House. I caught the band at Earnestine & Hazel’s at the end of June and their name describes their music – a hard rocking, bluesy, soulful sound. They were a perfect fit for E&H and should be a great fit for the downstairs of Pearl’s as well. Looking forward to this one.

– Saw a great T-shirt yesterday… it read, “I’M SOMEONE WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS AND LIKES TO LISTEN.” Except that “I’M SOMEONE,” “AND,” “LIKES TO,” and “LISTEN” were crossed out, leaving “WHO CARES ABOUT YOUR PROBLEMS.”

– Today is Tuesday, which means that my team The Rapscallions will kick some ass tonight at team trivia. Our gift certificate stash is back to $0, having spent the $70 we had in conjunction with two plate parties last week. Time to rebuild. But in the meantime, it’s time to get to work and earn even more money to spend on beer. See you later!

The Peabody Duck Walk of Fame contains the names of people who have made a significant impact on the development of Memphis. Started in 1995, the walk’s honorees include the patriarch of the Belz family, Henry Turley, King Willie, Danny Thomas, and others.

This Thursday, Elvis Presley will become the newest inductee into the Walk of Fame. The ceremony will happen in the Peabody lobby from 4:45 to 6:00 PM. Tickets not needed and the event will be open to the public. Priscilla Presley will be the special guest of honor. The lobby itself will be cordoned off for VIPs; the public can watch from the perimeter of the lobby or upstairs on the mezzanine. Ceremony will begin after the daily duck march at 5 PM.

The panhandling problem has made the latest edition of Memphis Limelight, an online satirical magazine similar to The Onion. The article talks about a new school opening up for bums which will teach them more creative ways to panhandle.

Whew! It’s hotter than a Romanian waitress outside! Nevertheless, that won’t stop me from being at the Summer Soiree tonight at the Black Diamond tonight from 6:30 on. $20 cover gets you 4 bands, free beer til it runs out, and you’ll be helping with the medical bills of someone who was injured by a drunk driver and screwed by insurance companies. Hope to see you out.

(Edit: I’m changing the date on this post to bump it back to the top. I don’t know Michelle, who this show will benefit, but I’ve been told by mutual friends that she is a really cool person. Please consider coming out for this.)

Put this one on your calendars… Sunday there will be a party on the Black Diamond patio, a benefit for a woman named Michelle. I don’t know her personally, but I’ve been told that she was hit head-on by a drunk driver and is now in a wheelchair for the time being. The insurance companies involved are fighting, and as a result she hasn’t been paid yet. Things are starting to get tight, and liens are being put on her property and stuff… not a good thing to have happen when you’re in a wheelchair trying to recover from a near-life-ending injury. So the proceeds from this event will help tide her over while the insurance companies fight.

$20 buys you all the beer you can drink until it runs out (they have 4 kegs, I’ve been told) and musical entertainment by Snozberry, Magic Bus, Tru Cuntry Bassturds, and the West Tennessee Wife Swappers.

This should be a FUN event… especially since it’s going to happen on a Sunday night… that means it’ll be heavily attended by the local service industry, who are a lot of fun people to party with. Beale Street is a much better place to hang out on Sunday than it is on Friday or Saturday.

Most likely I’m going to skip brunch… if I start the day at 11 AM like I usually do, I’ll already be on a downhill slide by the time the party starts.

The media and Congress have been scrutinizing World Wrestling Entertainment’s wellness program since the triple murder-suicide of Chris Benoit and his family last month. However, that same wellness program may have since saved a life.

Before the Great American Bash pay-per-view, WWE wrestlers were required to undergo a test in which they ran on a treadmill until their heart rates increased to 150 beats per minute. As a result of that test, it was discovered that wrestler Montel Vontavious Porter (“MVP”), the current U.S. champion on the Smackdown brand, had Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, an abnormal accessory pathway in his heart that could lead to abnormal heart rhythm and increased chance for a heart attack.

MVP has undergone a procedure to eliminate the pathway. He’s been taken off the road until next week, when an exam will determine whether or not the procedure was successful.

More info available here.

Take a look at The Weather Channel’s monthly weather forecast for Memphis. If you thought this week was bad, look what we’ve got coming up next week. Looks like MLGW will be making a fortune as air conditioners run nonstop for at least 10 more days. Although, we have Monday, August 20 to look forward to, when TWC predicts a high of “only” 96 and a 30% chance of rain.

Maybe we should convert to the metric system for some psychological relief. Since I have friends in Romania, I sometimes read their online newspapers. During a heat wave last month, Bucharest had a day with a high of 41C. “That doesn’t sound so bad,” I thought, until I did the math and realized that 41C = 106F.

I also checked the weather for San Diego, where I lived for six months in 2000. The hottest day of the next ten out there will be this coming Monday, when San Diegans will have to endure a high of 80 and a low of 70. As you can see, all over the U.S. we’re suffering from the heat.