Paul Ryburn's Journal

Saturday morning I woke up about 11:30, planning a trip to the mall, and then my phone rang. “Paul, Raiford’s is closed,” my source said. “They’re moving everything out.” So I grabbed the camera and headed down there. As you can see in the pic above, they were hauling out the white vinyl couches, and the sign had been taken down and the outside walls were painted over.

I’ve heard the rumor that Raiford’s would be closing since last October. Raiford, from what I hear, is ready to retire. I’ll miss the place but Raiford brought a lot of happiness to Downtown Memphis for almost 30 years. He’s earned the right to retire and live his life however he chooses. I wish him nothing but the best. My only regret is that I didn’t discover the place until 1998.

Mark Richens has more info on his blog about Raiford’s closing.

Rumor has it the place will be turned into a condo development. I’ve also heard some more rumors about the future of Downtown:

• A. Schwab’s on Beale has been bought by developers and will be turned into a mall;
• Earnestine & Hazel’s has been bought. It will be torn down and an Applebee’s will be built at the corner of Main and G.E. Patterson;
• Gus’s Fried Chicken has been bought by the YUM Corporation and will be turned into a combination KFC/Taco Bell.
• Sleep Out Louie’s has closed and will turn into a steakhouse – oh wait, that one’s actually true.

Sale on a lot of popular name-brand shoes at up to 60% off from 7 AM to midnight today:

One of my readers e-mailed to remind me that the Big Fat Greek Festival is going on today and tomorrow at the Orthodox Church on North Highland. I don’t have the address but it’s between Summer and Walnut Grove I believe.

This afternoon I was wandering the MCS Board of Education’s hallowed halls, and I saw a sign saying that all Memphis teachers and school staff get 50% off at Costa Vida this month. That’s a great deal – they have really good tacos, enchiladas, and burritos in a fast-casual atmosphere. Fredric Koeppel reviewed the place in the CA today. The way the sign was worded, it said “Memphis teachers and staff,” which I’m assuming would mean ANY school in the Memphis area – not just the city schools, but county and private schools as well. I’m definitely going to be showing up with my MCS ID a few times between now and the end of the month.

Just got a few hours of consulting work done. Time for a beer!

– Today’s post is brought to you by the Wi-Fi at the Midtown Starbucks. Note that I did not say FREE Wi-Fi. I actually paid for their stupid T-Mobile wireless plan. When there’s free wireless blocks away at High Point, Otherlands, Java, etc. But none of those places make a Strawberries & Creme Frappucino.

– That brings me to my first news item… this morning I came across a site where you can download software to turn your wireless router into a Wi-Fi hotspot, and you can charge people for access. Even if you don’t want to do that, the software allows you to protect your wireless network from moochers, even if they crack your router’s security key. Here’s the link.

– This morning there was a story in the Commercial Appeal about a news website based in Pasadena, California, that has hired news reporters in India to cover local Pasadena stories. Man… they’re outsourcing EVERYTHING these days. They got two full-time reporters in India, one with a journalism degree from UC Berkeley, for just over 20 grand a year total. Anyone think the CA itself will be doing this in a couple of years?

Hmmm… this blog takes a lot of time to write… maybe I should outsource my blogging. Maybe not to India, but to one of the other countries where outsourcing jobs are commonplace… Romania. Y’know, former Saucer waitress The Romanian Sensation is still on my Yahoo Messenger buddy list, maybe I should shoot her a message and see if she’d be interested in getting paid to write my blog. If it happens you’ll be reading blog posts titled

“Memphians need to tip better”

“Wolfchase Galleria: the greatest place on Earth”

“1 BR Downtown apartment needed, rent no more than $400 a month, to house 17 Romanians who will be here for three months this summer”

Wait, I just remembered, she graduates medical school in a month, so she probably won’t be available. There’s no doubt in my mind she’ll be every bit as good a doctor as she was a waitress.

– Speaking of Wolfchase, I’m probably going to head out that way tomorrow afternoon and buy some new summer shirts, Hawaiian shirts in particular. I have some work to get done on the laptop as well, so I may stop by the East Bumblefuck Saucer to use their Wi-Fi.

– Otherwise, a boring weekend coming up. The weekend between Music Fest and BBQ Fest is always a nothing-happening period. The only event on my calendar is Sunday brunch at the Majestic Grille.

– Speaking of BBQ Fest… my BBQ team is probably going to receive more coverage than the other ~300 teams combined. Not only will I be blogging about it, but CA writer “Skippy” Blank is on my team and will be covering our booth. Our inspirational leader Uncle Paul will be in town early next week for the festival. Much beer and liquor will be consumed.

– Coming soon: I have a Deal to post, a one-day only 60% off shoe sale, with lots of name brands. But it doesn’t kick off until 7 AM tomorrow, so no point posting it yet. I’ll try to remember to put the link up before I go to bed tonight. I damn sure ain’t getting up at 7 on a Saturday to do it.

– Back to the cube farm. On the agenda this afternoon: Someone in one of the other cubicles will heat up a bag of microwave popcorn. Someone else will shout out, “I smell popcorn! Who’s got popcorn?” If I go to hell when I die, (and according to the religious wackos on Beale Street last week, I will), I bet there are cubicles there. Have a good weekend everyone. If anyone knows of anything interesting or fun going on, let me know.

Blues City Pastry, the new pastry and coffee bar at the corner of Main and Peabody Place, in the old Viking Culinary space, will have their grand opening Monday from 2 to 10 PM. They have free wireless, so I have a feeling my laptop and I will be spending a lot of time there.

One of my friends who bought a condo this month e-mailed and asked if I’d mention what an awesome person Joan Robinson with the Downtown Condo Connection is. He didn’t realize it but I’ve actually known Joan for 5 years, and I agree, she would be a great resource. She’s about as much of a fixture Downtown as I am, and knows the area very well. So keep her name in mind if you’re toying with the idea of becoming a condo owner.

Got an e-mail from the treasurer of the Memphis Blues Society a few days ago. One of the goals they’re working toward is the establishment of a true blues festival here in Memphis. The closest we come now is the International Blues Challenge on Beale and the Blues Tent at Music Fest, but the city does not have a true blues festival.

One of the first steps the Memphis Blues Society is taking toward that goal, along with the Sonny Boy Blues Society, is to hold a fundraiser concert at Neil’s Friday, May 18. It will run from 7 to 2 and will feature Jim Dickinson, Jim Crosthwait, Sid Selvidge, William Lee Ellis, Jason Freeman, Phil Durham, Eric Hughes, Jimbo and Olga Mathus, Don McGregor and Live Wire Blues Band. $10 cover gets you in and there will also be a silent auction. For more info check out the Memphis Blues Society’s website.

Other news:

– Another location to show the UFC PPV: Quetzal on Union Avenue, just west of Marshall. So there is a Downtown option for watching the fights.

– Regarding last night’s “name Clay’s trivia team” post: Clay responded via e-mail, saying “good idea” and offering to buy a beer for the person who submits the winning name. So far one reader has submitted

Odds and Ends for 200, Alex
Baghdad Homeowner’s Association
Suicidal Tupperware
Sanjaya 2008
2 Dumb 2 Win, 2 Drunk 2 Care
Indigestible Pigeons
MLGW and the Resignations
Pregnant Pandas
Free Paris Now
Egghead Blondes
Vegetarians for Lawn Ornaments
George and the Pet Goats
Doogie Howser and the Prostate Exams

I’ll throw in a few of my own:

Phone Sex for the Hearing Impaired
Cliff and the Clavins
The Pete Fan Club

More to come, I just started thinking about names.

– One other request for my readers – a vegetarian friend of mine is looking for an invite to a BBQ Fest booth that will be cooking tofu or other veggie products. He’s a guy who gives a lot back to the community, a poet who volunteers a lot of his time working with the kids at the City Schools. If anyone has an invite to offer, e-mail me (paul.ryburn@gmail.com) and I’ll pass it on.

– The new Memphis Flyer is out. There’s an article about the Commercial Appeal’s circulation being way down… again. Maybe I should add “The five people who still subscribe to the CA” to the list of possible trivia team names.

– I have a project to do after work, so no happy hour for me today. If it gets done early it’s possible I may make a McGuinness or Saucer appearance around 10.

Back to the cubicle, where an afternoon of configuring ADAM (Active Directory Application Mode) to work with an ASP.NET asset tracking application awaits me. It’s entirely possible that I may die from too much excitement, so this may be my last post.

I very nearly posted a pic of one of the teams that competed against us in trivia at the Saucer tonight.

Three different teams noticed this team cheating, blatantly consulting their PDA under the table. After the other teams got wise, the cheaters got more sneaky. The male team member (who apparently owned the PDA) got up to use the restroom as soon as a question was asked. I tailed him in there, and he knew I was onto him and didn’t cheat. But the VERY NEXT QUESTION he had to go again. Bladder control problem dude? I sent a team member after him and guess what? Mr. Cheater was consulting his PDA and using the “facilities” at the same time. Now that’s talent.

Unfortunately Pete the Trivia Guy was not among the 15,764 people who saw them cheat, and he awarded them second place. I took a pic of them after the match. They, trying to be cute, took a pic of me in return. But, I have a blog that gets hundreds of hits a day and they don’t.

So, I’m going to be nice. I’m not going to post a pic of them this week. But, I’ll describe them. It was a guy with long curly dark hair (who did most of the cheating), a blond girl with glasses, a big girl with curly dark hair, and I can’t remember what the other girl looked like. I already have a pic of you; if you come back to the Saucer on a future Tuesday and ANYONE sees you cheating again I’m going to post it and make celebrities out of you.

In other news, Mendi made an appearance at the Saucer tonight and she had a tube top on. She had a sweater over it – “it’s bad to be cold in a tube top, especially the way you prefer tube tops to be worn,” she told me.

Clay’s team came up with the most generic, boring team name I’ve ever heard – “Jews for Atheism.” They’re truly running out of ideas. In the past they’ve had some good names – Imus and the Nappy Headed Hos, John Ford’s Jury, Mormons for Gay Polygamy. So, I’d like to institute the “Name Clay’s Team” contest – e-mail me your best team names and I’ll relay them next Tuesday night. If his team uses any of the names, then I’ll buy a beer for the person who suggested it. It’s the minimum I can do to make their team a little less of an embarrassment to the Saucer.

That’ll do it for tonight’s drunk post. Those of you who tune into this blog for actual information, sorry, not much this time. Well, I did tell you that Mendi had a tube top on.

I got a response from a reader this afternoon, saying that the Brookhaven Pub gets all the UFC pay-per-views and will surely get the one coming up at the end of this month. Thanks for the info, I’ll pass it along.

Does anyplace Downtown get them? Doesn’t Hooters get the wrestling PPVs? Do they get UFC as well?

One of my readers asked me to post this question: Does anyone know of a sports bar, casino, or anyplace that will be showing the Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view the weekend of May 25-27? He’s traveling to Memphis the first time and wants to see it. There’s a Memphian on the show (Quinton “Rampage” Jackson) so someplace should be broadcasting it.

If you know of anyplace e-mail me at paul.ryburn@gmail.com… my domain e-mail account has been bouncing messages, so please use my Gmail address for now.