Paul Ryburn's Journal

– Lantana Projects, the nonprofit that offers artists from all over the world residencies in Memphis, will unveil their new outdoor exhibit Saturday, June 30 from 7 to 10 PM. Artist Eric Knoote’s work consisting of mirror “flowers” will be on display at the vacant lot at the corner of Main and Jefferson in Downtown Memphis.

If you drive down to view the exhibit, please keep in mind that Downtown will be quite busy indeed, because the annual fireworks celebration at Tom Lee Park will be happening the same day. My suggestion – to help you avoid getting snarled in traffic when you leave – is to park as far away from Tom Lee as possible. If you’re coming to the art exhibit, I’d recommend parking to the east on Jefferson, Adams or Court in the metered spaces (which are free on Saturdays). When you leave, avoid Second Street and Union Avenue at all costs, as those are the main thoroughfares the cruisers use.

Saturday looks to be a full day for me… in addition to Lantana, I’ve been invited to view the fireworks at parties at Barton Flats and on my own rooftop. I’ll try to get to all three, with “where are the hot women” being the deciding factor whether to stay or move. Then again, maybe I’m missing out by not going to the park itself… the last time I viewed fireworks from a Downtown roof I missed a chance to see my favorite blogger in a tube top.

– There’s been a lot of talk in recent days about the ban on smoking in most public places (including most restaurants and bars) that passed the Tennessee Legislature. It’s scheduled to become law July 1, but a little research reveals that it won’t be enforced until October 1. What I’ve been told is that smoking will be allowed on outdoor patios, but won’t be allowed anywhere in restaurants or bars that are enclosed. It’s unclear whether it will be allowed at places like the Saucer’s outdoor patio when the windows are up; I had one person (who is in the restaurant biz) tell me that would count as a patio, but I had another person tell me it’s just a room with great big windows and wouldn’t be exempt.

Mixed feelings about this… on a personal level, I’m thrilled about the ban. I think cigarettes are disgusting and I hate having to come home every night with my hair and clothes smelling like smoke. On the other hand, about 80% of my friends smoke and I know how much this is going to disrupt their lives. I guess they have 3 months to figure out how to deal with it.

– My trivia team The Rapscallions finished slightly out of the money last night. Sample question – how do you spell “hemorrhoid”? Team member Skippy, an expert on the subject, managed to spell the word correctly and score us some points. One of our other team member cut the straps off her strapless top, turning it into a tube top in honor of Tube Top Month. Will post a pic as soon as I download it from the camera.

That’s all for now… time to get some work done. My tentative plan is to work from the Second Street branch office from about 11 to 2, and Blues City Pastry from 2 to 5. Have a good Wednesday everyone.

Today’s lunch: A “Texas-sized” spud topped with beef and cheddar cheese from McAlister’s Deli. First time I’ve eaten there since the place opened. They gave me lots of sour cream and butter to go on it too.

And just to keep in compliance with this month’s theme, here’s a tube top pic:

Taken last night at the Saucer… as I snapped the pic she said, “Paul!!! How many times have I been in your blog this month? People are going to think I own nothing but tube tops!” What would be wrong with that?

About to log back on to the server and get back to work… gotta turn the TV on too, CNN is about to have a news conference about the circumstances of Chris Benoit’s death.

– The Orpheum will have their 12th annual art & antiques auction Sunday, July 1. See below for details:

As the poster above indicates, they’ll have a special preview Friday, June 29 from 6-7 as part of the South Main Trolley Art Tour, with free eats and booze. Should be a good time – last month’s Trolley Tour was probably the best I’ve seen in my five years Downtown. South Main is hopping these days and the Trolley Tours should keep getting better and better. If you go to the tour, keep in mind you’ll be walking around outside a lot as you go from gallery to gallery – it gets hot this time of year, so be sure to dress appropriately. A tube top is always a good choice.

– Another monthly event that is really hitting its stride is Downtown Night at the Westin, which was held last night. In only two months it has become exactly what the Westin envisioned – a night for Downtowners to come together and mingle and get to know one another. It was an elegant setting with delicious hors d’ouevres and drinks, and yet casual enough that I didn’t feel out of place in shorts. Exactly what I like Downtown to be. The next one will be Monday, July 30. Of course, if you don’t want to wait that long to check out the Westin lobby, Di Anne Price plays piano there every Monday night.

– Wow… shocking news from the pro wrestling world. “The Canadian Crippler” Chris Benoit was found dead yesterday at his home, along with his wife Nancy and their 7-year-old son. It is believed that Benoit killed his wife and son and then committed suicide.

Benoit isn’t the first prominent wrestler to die, but with most of them there was at least a history of instability and/or drug problems. With Benoit no one saw it coming. In fact, he was scheduled to win the ECW World Championship Sunday night on pay-per-view, which he no-showed due to “family problems.”

A bit of wrestling history… in 1996, Benoit was a young wrestler in WCW. The booker (writer) was also a wrestler, named Kevin Sullivan. Benoit’s wife Nancy was married to Sullivan at the time and was his valet, called “Woman.” Sullivan wrote a storyline where Benoit stole Woman away and Sullivan was out for revenge… but in this case the storyline became real. Nancy fell in love with Benoit in real life and divorced Sullivan. Since then Sullivan really has been out for revenge. The police are calling it a double murder-suicide, with Benoit being the suicide, but I wonder if Sullivan is somehow involved.

That’ll do it for now… time to get some work done. I’ll be at the Saucer tonight for team trivia.

Ever walked the streets of Downtown when there’s even a 20% possibility of rain? All the bums will be out, carrying the rattiest-looking umbrellas on Earth. If as much as one drop falls from the sky, they’ll open their umbrellas and rush over to you. “Here, sir, let me keep you dry,” they’ll say as they hold the umbrella over your head. Then they’ll walk with you and tell you their sob story. “I ain’t had nothin’ to eat in about three days…”

Well, last night I was walking home, after an evening of drinking mimosas and hanging out with friends. About every 10 feet, I had to stop and scratch my legs – yep, it’s officially mosquito season. They’re everywhere. One of my friends, who had a tube top on, got several nasty bites on her back. As I walked home I noticed I wasn’t the only one stopping to scratch and slap mosquitoes away – everyone was doing it.

So, if I were a bum, I’d head to Walgreens and invest in a pocket-sized bottle of Off or Cutter, then walk around the streets and look for people trying to chase mosquitoes away. “Bug spray, sir?” Those bugs were making me absolutely MISERABLE last night and I gladly would’ve tipped a dollar for the chance to spray down my arms and legs – as annoying as the bums are, the mosquitoes are worse.

Today, I invested in some Cutter myself – got a value pack, a 6-ounce bottle and a bonus 1-ounce pocket-sized bottle. Think I’ll keep the 1-ouncer with me all the time for myself and my friends, and just use the 6-ouncer to refill the little one when it gets low. Unlike the bums, I don’t plan on charging… although, hmmm… maybe I should.

Downtown Night in the Westin lobby tonight, 5:30-7:30 PM – happy hour prices, free appetizers, Di Anne Price on the piano.

I’ll probably be there but not long – busy working all afternoon, will probably hit the Saucer around 5:45ish to have one beer, recruit people to go to the Westin, and to see if any of the other patrons have a tube top on. After that will hit the Westin for the last hour of their gig.

In past years many of you have seen me walking around in a 38103 T-shirt. 38103, of course, is the Downtown Memphis zip code, so it’s a way to represent downtown. A lot of people have asked me where I got the shirt – my friend Ryan made and sold them, but they’ve been unavailable for a while.

Well, they’re now available again. Ryan has created a 38103 CafePress store and is now selling the shirts from there. He has several varieties of men’s and women’s shirts available, as well as coffee mugs. Unfortunately there’s still no 38103 tube top, which is something I’ve been urging Ryan to create for a while.

If you’re proud of Downtown and want to show it, go check out the store and buy a shirt or a mug.

Last week the Memphis Business Journal had an article about business offices opening for One Beale, the new ultra-luxury hi-rise condo/hotel building being built at Beale and Riverside. Last night I was thinking to myself, you know, I should buy one of those condos.

You see, last night I was going to go out for an evening of tube top watching, but then I discovered that the books I had ordered from Amazon had arrived. I was kind of tired anyway, so I decided to just lie around and read.

As the evening went on I got hungry. I looked in the refrigerator. There was a bottle of salsa, but I didn’t have any chips to go with it. By this point Walgreens had already closed for the evening, and I didn’t feel like walking down Main to Jack’s and running the gauntlet of bums asking for money. And I couldn’t get in the car and drive somewhere for chips – it’s after dark and one of my pop-up headlights refuses to pop up, and I haven’t gotten it fixed yet.

Then I thought to myself, you know, they say that the condo owners at One Beale will have access to the same amenities at One Beale as the hotel guests. So, if I lived there I could ring up the concierge desk and ask them to go get me some chips.

So, I’m planning to buy at One Beale. There’s only one minor hitch that could derail this plan. That is that the units start at $450,000, and I don’t currently have $450,000. However, I’m not letting that stop me. Surely I can find a way to come up with $450,000 by the time the office opens next week. If anyone has any tips on earning $450,000 in a weekend let me know.

Last year I wrote about being invited to be Club Six-1-Six’s MySpace friend, seven years after the club closed its doors for the last time. Well, there’s now another nightclub of the past that has been resurrected on MySpace… Raiford’s.

Let’s get some atmosphere up in here! This is gonna be a night we ALL gonna remember!

I had trouble viewing the MySpace profile in Firefox though… I never got scroll bars to move around the page. It came up properly in Safari. I didn’t try it in IE. Heh… if ever there’s a MySpace user who should “pimp their profile,” it would be Raiford’s.

Too bad Raiford’s closed right before Tube Top Month kicked off this year… Raiford’s probably had more tube tops per square foot on Friday and Saturday nights than any other place in town.

Once again, I never made it to the Peabody last night after saying I was going to go – went to the Saucer then EP’s, and remained at EP’s until God knows when. It was a good night last night though – got several tube top photos. The previous Thursday I had a blog reader inform me that she had just bought 4 new tube tops… well, she was back at EP’s and had one on. “I’m going commando underneath my tube top!” she told me, although I actually figured it out before she said anything. Here’s a pic – not sure if she would want her identity revealed to the viewing public so I’ve covered her face.

I’ll be out in East Bumblefuck today… got a meeting at Buffalo Wild Wings out there at 1. Been looking at their wing sauce menu, trying to decide what to get. Usually when I order wings I get one step below the hottest sauce – called “extra hot” at many restaurants and called “wild” by BWW. But I’ve been told I’ve been missing out by not experimenting with the other flavors of wings. Hmmm… the parmesan garlic sauce and the Caribbean jerk sauce both sound good… maybe I’ll get 6 of each.

Afterward I’ll probably hit the Wolfchase Mall and get some shopping done, then find a coffee shop with Wi-Fi and get some work done. I definitely don’t want to drive home during rush hour, so I’ll probably be out in East BF until 6:00, 6:30 or longer.

Happy Friday everyone… I doubt there will be 5 posts like there were yesterday, but you never know.

Just checked Amy W’s blog and found that Circa opens today. You can check their website to find out all about them. Quick summary: Dinner entrees in the $teens and $20s, huge wine selection, located in the Pembroke Square building on the Main Street Mall, in the old Market on Main space. John Bragg is chef.

I won’t be able to get by there tonight, as I’ll be out tube top hunting at rooftop parties. I look forward to reading Amy’s review of the place, and trying it myself in the coming weeks.