Paul Ryburn's Journal

Today’s lunchtime post comes to you courtesy of the free Wi-Fi at Otherlands. They’re having a benefit for the Cooper Young Association, a Fall Fest, this Saturday from 8 PM to midnight. Cover is $10 and there will be free live music, free beer, free Camy’s pizza (YUM!!!), and free Celtic Crossing dessert while supplies last, as well as a cash coffee bar. Proceeds to benefit the CYCA’s beautification projects. Sounds like a good time.

I heard one of the people working the counter here at O-lands say that they now have tuna salad and turkey melts. Cool! Glad to see them adding menu items to appeal to the 90% of the city that is not vegetarian.

Here are a few more pics of the early morning downtown fire Friday, October 6. These are better than the ones I posted. Thanks to my neighbor Bo for providing these. First two are of the Court Annex building, and the third shows the embers raining down, threatening to catch all of downtown on fire (you may need to click on that pic to view it full-size to see the embers). Pics were taken from the rooftop of 10 South Main.

The Internet is a wonderful thing. This morning I was sitting in my cubicle at work, and a thought popped into my head – “Hey, I wonder whatever happened to that guy who played for the XFL and wore that ‘He Hate Me’ jersey?” So I typed “he hate me” into the search box on Wikipedia, and this article came up. I learned that He Hate Me (real name: Rod Smart) went on to become a special teams star for the Carolina Panthers from 2002 to 2005. The article also explains the origins of the nickname. See? Surfing the web makes you smarter.

Here’s an election prediction for you: The Democrats will win all the toss-up Senate races, gaining a majority of 51 to 49. But between Election Day and the day the new Senate convenes, Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman will change his party affiliation to Republican, giving the Republicans a 51-50 majority in the Senate (since Vice President Dick “-Head” Cheney votes in the case of a tie).

Dining With Monkeys blogger Stacey Greenberg has a good food feature on p.64 of this week’s Flyer. The feature is basically an extended version of what she posts about in her blog – dining out with her kids. If you’ve never read her writing, check out the article, and her blog.

My trivia team The Rapscallions ended up tied for third last night, but lost the tiebreaker question – “How many vertebrae does a giraffe have?” Team member Narmi claimed he came up with the correct answer – 7 – but what he actually said was, “7 in the neck and probably another 225 in the back.” We got a team consensus of 84 and lost. I did get a question right because of the Sixties book I bought last week – what state did RFK represent in the Senate? (answer: NY)

There’s a flyer on the wall here for a band called Mudgrip that plays ’60s boogaloo and soul at the Buccaneer every Tuesday at 10:30. Sounds interesting… maybe I’ll stay sober at trivia next Tuesday so I can drive out to the Buc and check them out.

That’s it for now… back to Cubicle Hell. Gonna do some shopping after work tonight, so probably no going-out downtown. I’ll be back in full force tomorrow, though.

Today’s lunchtime post comes to you from Bookstar in Poplar Plaza. Now, Bookstar doesn’t officially provide Wi-Fi for its customers, but I decided to bring the laptop up here anyway and see if I could use what my friend Mikey terms “MoochNet” – jumping on unsecured wireless networks that belong to businesses in the area. Sure enough, I found one. The signal is only 1 bar out of 5 (Very Low), but that’s good enough – it’s not like I’m going to be playing interactive video games or using Google Earth during my lunch break.

Congratulations to Center City Commission president Jeff Sanford, who was named Chairman of the International Downtown Association last week. According to this Eyewitness News article, IDA is an organization made up of downtown revitalization professionals, and its goal is to champion “vital and livable urban centers around the globe.” The fact that the head of a Downtown Memphis organization was chosen to lead the IDA shows that our downtown really is making a lot more progress than we sometimes realize.

Man… this connection keeps going up and down… don’t know if Bookstar is going to work as a MoochNet location. Too bad, because there are cute girls in here studying.

Attention MySpace and other networking site users… there’s a new scam called spear phishing that you need to be aware of. What these people do is, they surf MySpace user pages and find someone that has an interest in a particular band (i.e. that user has that band added as a friend). The spear phishers will then send the user messages, directing them to click on a link (which appears to be a legit MySpace page) to get more info on the band or free stuff. When the user clicks on the link, software is installed on their computer which collects their financial information to send back to the phishers. For more info see this Fox 16 (Little Rock) story.

Sleep Out Louie’s bartender Josh wants me to let everyone know that starting Sunday, he will be working all day from open to close. So come on by for Sunday brunch and he’ll take good care of you. Hey Josh, now that you’re a manager, WHEN YA GONNA HIRE SOME MORE ROMANIANS???

This connection sucks. It’s up one minute and down the next. Regular reader Otto sent me an article on how to boost incoming Wi-Fi signals, but it looks like you have to be at the same location as your access point for this to work. If anyone knows how to boost signals on the road (other than that Cantenna thing I posted about Friday), let me know.

I’m going to attempt to post this thing and get offline. I’ll be at the Saucer with my trivia team The Rapscallions tonight about 7. Cardinals and Mets play Game 5 of their series at 7:19 tonight, and anytime the Cardinals are playing, Blue Moon is on Fire Sale for $2.50 at the downtown Saucer, so you know what I’ll be drinking.

As I was driving to work today, I noticed that Deliberate Literate on Union is closing! I always liked that bookstore; sad to see it go. I felt like my IQ went up by a few points when I went in there. If you want anything DL has left, better get by there for their closing sale.

Speaking of IQ, today is Memphis poet laureate IQ’s birthday. Buy him a beer if you see him at Pint Nite at the Saucer tonight. If you don’t read this until tomorrow, I’m sure he’ll accept birthday beers later in the week, too.

Saw a sign for a new place opening up at 509 S. Main where Memphis Heritage used to be. It’s called Modes du Jour and the sign says they will have shoes, accessories, and clothes. Looks like a women’s clothing store I guess. They have a website but right now it’s just a splash page.

Early voting starts Wednesday! Don’t forget to vote early and avoid the crowds on Election Day. Here’s a link to a CA article with more information.

That reminds me, here’s a joke I heard yesterday at Sleep Out’s:
Q: Why don’t Republican congressmen use bookmarks?
A: They just bend the page over.

B.B. King will be performing two shows at his club on Beale Street Sunday and Monday, October 29 and 30. Shows start at 9:30 PM. More info available on the club’s site.

By the way, I still have a few VIP passes to B.B. King’s club to give away to downtowners who will use them. Passes get you in for free (except for special or ticketed events like B.B.’s shows) and get you a 10% discount on drinks. They’re not one-time-only; you can use them over and over again as often as you want. They can also be used at the Nashville and Los Angeles locations. E-mail me if you want one.

Here’s the running list of the Halloween stuff I’ve heard of so far:

Friday 10/27: My apartment building’s party

Saturday 10/28: The Chicken Tractor party at Newby’s, which I’ve heard is good, and if you’re lucky you’ll get to make out with regular blog reader Mendi.

I’ve also heard Atlas will be throwing a good party Saturday night. According to the guys who were sitting next to me yesterday afternoon at the Saucer, the Atlas party got pretty wild last year. They mentioned something about females at the party with tape covering strategic areas and not much else. Hmmm.

Edited to add: Just learned that Dan McGuinness will be having a Halloween party Sat 10/28 as well. Very, very high probability I’ll show up for that one.

Sunday 10/29: Uptown is having a neighborhood chili cookoff, pumpkin carving contest, and house decoration contest from noon to 6. Unlike everything else mentioned here, this one is kid-friendly.

Tuesday 10/31: Parties at Sleep Out’s and Bluefin. “Spooky” team trivia night (and the hottest Beer Goddess ever to set foot in the place) at the Flying Saucer.

If you know of more events, e-mail me. I’m especially interested in events downtown. I’m wondering if the 450 Stonewall party is not happening this year, since they still have the ’05 party info on their site.

Air America Radio has filed for bankruptcy, according to The Smoking Gun. Wonder if they’ll stay on the air or shut down for good. I hope they stay on through the November elections, at least.

That’s all the news for now. I probably won’t make it to Pint Nite tonight – need to catch up on chores around the apartment. I’ll be out later in the week though…

Just now I walked up the Main Street Mall to Jack’s to buy my morning Mountain Dew and my Sunday paper. As I passed Court Square, there was a group of five bums, obviously already drunk, sitting on the benches near the entrance to the park, hooting and hollering and screaming and carrying on. I looked across the mall and I saw a couple eating breakfast on the patio of Sleep Inn, clearly appalled at what they were seeing. Two more people who will leave with a negative impression of Downtown. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Memphis will never have a first-class downtown until the city gets serious about cleaning up the bum/vagrant/panhandling issue. Other cities do it; why can’t we? Smart City’s blog had an excellent post on the matter a couple of weeks ago.

As I walked up the mall, I noticed the the Main Street Convenience Store on the first floor of The Renaissance Apts./99 Tower has closed. Downtowners have given the place various nicknames over the years – “Ghandi Mart,” “Haji’s Fart Mart,” etc. Never thought that place would close, but there’s butcher paper and a “For Lease” sign in the window. Guess the store was kind of redundant with Jack’s right across the street.

Friday night I stopped in the Tap Room for a beer, and Niles the bartender told me, “Paul! You’re world famous!” I asked what he meant. “Today we had people from India come in here, and they told us that they had to stop in because they read about the Tap Room on your blog!” That’s pretty cool. Hope they not only had a beer, but something to eat off King’s Palace/Tap Room’s excellent menu, which I’ll say once again is the best on Beale.

Earlier this year, a lot of people were upset when the Flying Saucer stopped selling Dos Equis Special Lager on draft. In my opinion (and a lot of people apparently agree), the Special Lager is a better beer than the more common Dos Equis Amber. Well, if you want it all you have to do is walk up the street… Rio Loco has it on draft, and keep in mind that they have Happy Hour from 2 to 10 where you can get a 25 oz. mug for $3.99.

All right… short post today because I’ve got a full plate of activities. From 11 to about 1:30 I’ll be at Sleep Out’s (don’t forget, this is bartender Kimberley’s last day, so come say goodbye), then I’ll be doing the Downtown Home Tour the rest of the afternoon. After that I’ll hit Huey’s for the last hour of Di Anne Price’s set, and all of The Dempseys’ performance. As always, plans subject to change but this looks like what I’ll be doing. Looks like it’s going to be a beautiful day.

Last night I went to the art gallery walk on the 2500 block of Broad Avenue. For those not familiar with the area, Broad used to be the street that ran from East Parkway to the beginning of the freeway (Sam Cooper Blvd.) that turns into the I-40. But since they extended Sam Cooper Blvd. all the way to East Parkway, Broad is now a somewhat-forgotten street in between Summer and Sam Cooper. However, it is experiencing a comeback, with developers seeing potential in the area, people moving into residential units, and new art galleries opening. Last night they had their first-ever art gallery walk, with the galleries staying open until 8 and serving wine and cheese, so I decided to check it out.

My favorite of the art exhibits I saw was one featuring comic book art, at Adam Shaw studio. Here are links to some of the artists:

• www.toshigawa.com / martheus.deviantart.com
• www.abshaw.com / www.bloodstreamcomic.com
• www.bushitales.com / www.pencilneckstudios.com
• www.midsouthcartoonists.com / (there was one more link but I tried to write it down while eating tortellini-on-a-stick and now I can’t read my own writing)

Great exhibit! Muley the Mule rules.

I wandered through a few other galleries as well. I spent a few minutes talking to the people at Archicast, who do architectural casting and repair statues. Lots of statues and pillars and columns in their shop. I also caught the artwork of Nashville artist Ben Vitualla, who seems to have an obsession with targets, at a gallery called Material.

Elsewhere on the street, Broadway Pizza is still open. They’ve been there since 1977 and it looks like they haven’t changed their decor since the day they opened – but I like that, reminds me of pizza parlors I went to when I was a kid. I’ve lived in Memphis 19 years and have not yet tried their pizza. Next time I go to one of the gallery walks (I’m assuming there will be more) I’m gonna have to order a pizza to take home.

I also walked through The Beer Joint, a dive bar on Broad that has been there forever. It’s currently being renovated, and according to a sign on the window, will reopen as “The Cove.” I immediately loved the place – dark, pictures of pirate ships, nautical decor. I spent some time talking to the owner, and he said he plans on retaining as much of the funkiness of the place as possible. He told me the renovation will take a while but the bar will reopen sometime in 2007. Keep an eye on this one – I have a feeling, if done right, this could become THE hip dive-bar hangout in the years to come. (Although, I should point out, I have absolutely zero qualifications to tell anyone where the “hipster” hangouts are in Memphis – look to Richens or RachelAndTheCity for that.) When I was in there, I kinda sorta got a little of the same feeling I get when I hang out at Earnestine & Hazel’s, or The Buccaneer, which is a good sign.

The Beer Joint was one of only three or four bars in Memphis that was open before they passed the law that beer sales stop at 3 AM – so they were “grandfathered in” and could serve 24/7. Since they’re changing the name and closing for renovations, I’m not sure they’ll be able to keep their grandfathered status (and they may not want to – the owner told me he’s going for a different clientele this time around).

And there were so many storefronts just waiting for something cool to happen. I walked past a pool room that appeared to be closed, and wished someone would reopen it.

As I walked, I thought to myself, Broad Avenue could turn into something similar to Adams Avenue in the Normal Heights neighborhood of San Diego. For those of you who haven’t been to SD, Adams is a four-lane road that runs east-west. It isn’t heavily traveled, because most people use two other roads, Washington Avenue and University Avenue, to get where they’re going. But for those who know it’s there, Adams is filled with unique and funky antique shops, art galleries, coffeehouses, dark little bars, bookstores, ethnic restaurants, and such. Broad is a long way away – again, it’s still in the very early stages of its comeback – but I can see it happening in ten years’ time.

Not sure if they’ll do these gallery walks on a monthly basis, but next time they have one, it’ll be worth your time to go.

Last night, I was talking to one of the regular readers of this blog at the Flying Saucer, and she asked me for suggestions for her Halloween costume.

“Stripper?” I replied. “Belly dancer? Slut from an ’80s rock video?” Someone else suggested she dress as Mr.Hankey the talking turd from South Park. “Yeah!” I told her. “You could wear a skintight brown bodysuit with absolutely nothing on underneath.”

She rejected those costume ideas but she agreed with the overall theme. “Whatever I’m going to be, it has to be skanky,” she said. “It’s Skank-o-ween!”

If you have any ideas for costumes she can wear for Skank-o-ween, e-mail me and I’ll forward them to her.

Also… what Halloween parties are going on this year? I know of several already… the one in my apartment building, the Chicken Tractor one, the one at Sleep Out’s. What else will be going on? If you hear of anything, send it to me, and if it sounds good I’ll post it. (Warning: I reserve the right to make fun of parties that sound lame… parties taking place in East Bumblefuck or at the “U-Club” being the most likely to draw sarcastic comments)

Just got up with the usual Saturday morning hangover… but, I went to the Broad Avenue Gallery Walk last night and really enjoyed it. Soon as I take a shower and drink a Mountain Dew I’ll be posting about that.

One more event to add to an incredibly busy weekend, if you like bluegrass: Eyewitness News 24/30 reports that there will be a bluegrass festival on Mud Island tomorrow, Saturday, October 14, from 10 pm to 5 pm. Fourteen bands on two stages, plus you can bring your own acoustic instrument for impromptu picking sessions. Free admission, 2 bucks to ride the monorail to the island.

There’s this device called the Cantenna that you can buy, that connects to your laptop and is supposed to greatly extend its wireless range, allowing you to find more wireless networks to jump on to.

Here’s what I’m thinking: There’s free wireless Internet at Court Square. I live at 10 South Main, about a block away. I wonder, if I bought a Cantenna and pointed it at Court Square, would I get a steady, fast, reliable connection? Because if I could, and I knew I could depend on it whenever I’m at home, then I could get rid of Road Runner and save myself 45 bucks a month.

Has anyone tried one of these Cantennas? Do they work? By how much do they extend your range? If you have experience with these, could you please shoot me an e-mail and let me know what you think. Thanks.

There was no lunchtime post today because I went to Bookstar and Old Navy in my lunch hour. At Bookstar I bought The Sixties Chronicle, a 480-page oversized book filled with pictures, people and events of the 1960s, organized by year. Here’s a link to the book’s listing on Amazon, but if you’re in Memphis you’d be better off buying it at the Poplar/Highland Bookstar, which has it on sale for $14.98. Looking forward to reading it… I’ve always been fascinated with the Sixties. No other decade in the past 100 years has seen American society and values change so much.

Books like this one are among the reasons why I’ve gotten so good at trivia. The book will have a picture and a paragraph about a notable person from the 1960s… I’ll want to know more and search for that person on Wikipedia. And then from that person’s article, I’ll probably jump off to several other Wikipedia articles and learn even more. Man… if Wikipedia had been around 10 years ago, by now I’d be ready to become a contestant on Jeopardy and make a fortune.

Earlier today, The National Trust e-mailed me. They asked if they could use some of my photos of last Friday’s Downtown Memphis fire in Preservation, their online magazine. I checked ’em out and they sound like a really good organization – “The National Trust provides leadership, education, advocacy and resources to save America’s diverse historic places and revitalize our communities,” it says on their site – so I gave them my permission. A few hours later, the magazine article was already up – check it out.

Crap. I gotta run to Walgreens before they close. Hang on…

…Okay, back. Walgreens had the Beatles’ “Eight Days a Week” and Stevie Wonder’s “I Was Made to Love Her” playing over the PA. If they keep playing such good music, I’m gonna have to start going in there just to hang out, even if I don’t need to buy anything.

As I was walking back, I noticed a flyer for an upcoming progressive dinner, to be held on November 1st at four of the finest restaurants Downtown – McEwen’s, Stella, Grill 83, and Felicia Suzanne’s. Diners will have appetizers at one restaurant, entrees at another, dessert at another… you get the idea. Kind of expensive ($85 per person + tax + tip) but there’s no doubt you’d be eating some outstanding food. See the pic below for details.

… and that’s about all for now. Oh, the architect in charge of redeveloping the big white tower in Court Square e-mailed to say that it is indeed Lincoln-American with an “n,” not Lincoln-America.

It’s cold outside and that’s going to give me a perfect excuse not to go out and drink umpteen beers and feel like ass the next morning like I usually do. Besides, I want to read my new book. Back tomorrow (probably) with more to say!

Just picked up the latest issue of the Memphis Flyer, and it looks like a lot will be going on this weekend. Here are a few events that have earned my stamp of approval:

– Friday night there will be a gallery walk on the 2500 block of Broad. Broad Avenue is the latest neighborhood to make a comeback, and Friday night’s gallery walk should be similar to the trolley art tours that happen the last Friday of every month on South Main, except without the trolley. Easiest way to get there is to take Sam Cooper Blvd. to Hollywood, then turn north on Hollywood and almost immediately turn east onto Broad.

– Friday will also be the opening night of The U.S. vs. John Lennon, a film chronicling John Lennon’s attempts to remain in the U.S. in the early 1970s. The Nixon government felt threatened by his support of radical causes and took steps to get him permanently deported, using a 1968 marijuana bust as the reason. Lennon, however, managed to play the legal system to get extensions time and time again, and was finally granted his green card in 1976. The Flyer didn’t give the film a very good review, but I want to see it anyway. It’s playing at Studio on the Square in Midtown.

– St. Mary’s Catholic Church (Third at Market downtown) is having their annual Oktoberfest downtown this weekend. Arts, crafts, food, games for the kids, and live entertainment featuring “everything from Karaoke to Karate,” according to their website. There will be a live auction Saturday at 9.

The part of Oktoberfest I’m most excited about is Beerfest, from 2 to 5 Saturday afternoon. For $20 you get to sample unlimited tastings of over 100 specialty beers, and a ticket to vote in their annual Home Brewers contest. After Art on Tap last month I’m ready for another beer tasting. Should be fun.

– Sunday, of course, I’ll start with brunch at Sleep Out Louie’s. It’s longtime bartender Kimberley’s last day before she begins an exciting new life in a new city, so come by and wish her well. Her shift is 10:30 to 4:00.

– Sunday afternoon from noon to 6 is the annual Downtown Home Tour, which this year has been expanded to include 13 homes. This year they’re focusing on New Urbanism and really have an amazing array of living spaces to explore. Click here to preview the homes on the tour. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at Bluff City Coffee.

– After doing the tour, stop by Downtown Huey’s for their 10th anniversary celebration. William Lee Ellis will kick it off at 2, and the fabulous Di Anne Price takes the stage at 5. You know, it’s been way too long since I went out and heard Di Anne. Then, at 9, is the main event – my favorite band, The Dempseys, at my favorite venue in which to see them. They’ll be playing past midnight and I know Monday is a work day, but some things are worth staying up late for.

As for tonight, I’ll be at the Saucer for John Lennon “buy the beer, keep the glass” night, featuring live entertainment by Hell If I Know Who’s Playing, I’m Busy Staring At The Waitresses. I was there last night as well, for trivia. My team The Rapscallions ballooned to a massive 12 people at one point and it was impossible to get everyone to agree on consensus answers – and we lost. Hmmm, here’s a thought – next time we know we’re going to have a lot of people, why don’t we send half the team out to Germantown Parkway to play the East Bumblefuck Saucer’s trivia bowl? We could become the first team to win first place at both locations on the same night. Wonder if the gift certificates are redeemable at either location, or only the location at which they’re won. I’ll ask one of the managers.

Outta here for now. Happy afternoon everyone.