Paul Ryburn's Journal

The Memphis chapter of Net Impact will be showing the film Iraq for Sale tonight at the PowerHouse art gallery on G.E. Patterson Avenue. There will be networking with popcorn and wine at 6:30, and the film will be shown at 7:30. Event is free but donations will be accepted. They ask that you RSVP to rsvp@memphisnetimpact.org if you plan on attending.

About the film: Iraq for Sale: The War Profiteers is the story of what happens to everyday Americans when corporations go to war. Acclaimed director Robert Greenwald (Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, Outfoxed, and Uncovered) takes you inside the lives of soldiers, truck drivers, widows and children who have been changed forever as a result of corporate greed in the reconstruction of Iraq. Iraq for Sale uncovers the connections between private security companies making a killing in Iraq and the decision makers who allow them to do so. To learn more about Iraq for Sale please visit http://iraqforsale.bravenewtheaters.com/

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it to Iraq for Sale because it’s Tuesday trivia night. I have a feeling that this may be the week that the other downtown trivia team, Mormons for Gay Polygamy (or whatever they choose to call themselves this time), makes the transition from “serious competition” to “has-beens.” I predict that they’ll finish completely out of the prize money. Who knows though… desperation can be a powerful motivator, so maybe they’ll be able to prove me wrong. Meanwhile, my team the Rapscallions has stepped up their game to a whole new level, and should add to its gift-certificate stash of winnings this evening.

Hmmm… maybe I’ll have the chili cheese fries again while I play. The last time I ordered them the waitress brought them out and said, “Now be careful, the top plate’s really hot.” And I was tempted to reply “just like you.” But I didn’t.

One other news item: If you have a lot of documents you need to shred but you’ve never gotten around to buying a shredder, Cadence Bank can help you out, according to an article this morning in the Commercial Appeal. Cadence will offer free shredding (up to 5 boxes’ worth) at its East Bumblefuck location (7878 Farmington) tomorrow from 9 to 2 and at its Midtown location (1516 Union) Friday from 9 to 2. Their shredders can handle staples, paper clips and bindings, so you don’t have to take them out.

That’s all for now. Possibly a second post to come before lunch hour’s over.

Ben & Jerry’s will be giving away free ice cream cones tomorrow (Tuesday, April 17) at participating locations from noon until 8. Here’s a link to a store locator where you can find the nearest B&J’s.

If you’re Downtown, there’s a Ben & Jerry’s at Third and Peabody Place, in the Hampton Inn (entrance faces Handy Park on Third). It’s right around the corner from Crepe Maker, another really good but little known restaurant, so if you’re hungry, stop and get a crepe (or a “creep” as Mikey calls them) before going to get your free ice cream.

Thanks to Otto for the tip.

It’s official, the Grizzlies are guaranteed to finish the 2006-07 season with the worst record in the NBA. That’s not good, except in one respect. It means we have the best chances of any team in the 2007 NBA draft lottery. I spent some time reading the Wikipedia entry about the draft lottery, and I must say, the way it works it rivals the BCS National Championship in terms of confusion. Here’s a summary of what Grizzlies fans need to know.

• The lottery will be held Tuesday, May 22.
• The Grizzlies, as a result of their last-place record, have the best chance of any team (25%) at receiving the number-one draft pick. The team with the second-worst record will have a 20% chance, and it goes down from there through the 14 teams that did not make the playoffs. The 14th-worst team has an 0.5% chance of getting the #1 pick.
• At worst, the Grizzlies will get the 4th pick.
• The probability of their getting the 2nd pick is 21.5%.
• Probability of their getting the 3rd pick is 17.7%.
• Probability of their getting the 4th pick, the worst they can do, is 35.8%.

For complete info you can check out the Wikipedia page, but unless you like math a LOT I suggest you don’t bother with it.

Believe it or not, this post is not about THAT type of meat market, where male singles and female singles meet. Actually, that’s a “meet market.”

Back last year, I wrote a blog for the Commercial Appeal called Deal of the Week, where I picked the best deals in consumer electronics. One week I had a reader leave a comment (I had the comments turned on for that blog) asking me to recommend places to buy meats and cheeses. I was at a loss because that’s not my area of expertise.

However – I have heard from two different people in the past week that the place to go to buy top-quality meat at an affordable price is Charlie’s Meat Market at 4790 Summer. That’s in between Stratford and Mendenhall on the north side of the street. One of my regular drinking buddies told me he got four 12 oz. filets for $6 apiece there. Not a bad deal.

Hope this helps. I don’t know the Charlie’s people personally but I’ve heard good things about them from enough sources that I believe they’re the real deal. Check them out if you need meat for a summer cookout.

The Flying Saucer (at least the Downtown one) has raised their per-game rate for pool to 5 quarters ($1.25).

As per the image above, if you want to play pool at the downtown Saucer you better be ready, willing and able to fill in all five slots. So what are they spending the extra profits on? Apparently not spell check.

D-E-M-P-S-E-Y-S. No apostrophe anywhere in there. They’re your most popular band. Have been for a couple of years. How could you get this wrong? All you had to do was show this to someone who had worked there longer than, say, three months, and they would’ve told you, “Hey, you misspelled ‘Dempseys.'” Good God. I love the Saucer, but, come on guys, you can do better.

From time to time I get e-mail asking what there is to do in Downtown Memphis that’s fun and is targeted toward a slightly older crowd (usually meaning mid-to-late 40s) than the usual downtown party scene. Here’s one for you:

The Memphis Jazz Orchestra rehearses every Sunday night at Alfred’s on Beale Street from 5 to 9 PM. Tom Prestigiacomo and others get up and sing, and a lot of jazz enthusiasts dance to the music. Crowd is very friendly. Relaxing way to wind up the weekend.

With the weather outside being so lousy this weekend, I decided to hibernate – I didn’t go out either Friday or Saturday night. Mostly I just lay around in bed, giving my back/leg injury time to heal.

At 10 PM last night I turned on Memphis Wrestling, to get the latest details of the upcoming event at the FedExForum… and after hearing what was said, I’m wondering if this is going to turn into something bigger than a one-time show.

Hulk Hogan was interviewed “live,” and he was PISSED at the WWE for pulling their employee Jerry Lawler out of the main event, and for calling the FedExForum and trying to get them to cancel the event altogether (which they wouldn’t do). The WWE and Memphis Wrestling have always had a good relationship, allowing Lawler to work both places and the WWE loaning Memphis Wrestling talent for their shows. However, WWE chairman Vince McMahon had a falling out with Hogan this year. McMahon wanted Hogan to work WrestleMania, but wasn’t willing to pay the Hulkster as much money as Hulk thought he deserved. So Hogan pulled out, and McMahon began berating Hogan, his daughter Brooke, and his reality TV show in the press. (By the way – all this stuff is real, not a scripted wrestling storyline like the McMahon/Donald Trump hair match at WrestleMania.)

Now here’s why this might get big, and why we as Memphians should consider supporting it. Hogan has been talking about starting his own national wrestling promotion, to compete with the WWE, for about two years. He’s now angry enough at McMahon to do it, and he’s the one name in the business big enough to get national cable TV deals, and he and Paul “The Giant/The Big Show” Wight could carry the company’s main event scene. If the event in Memphis goes well, it’s possible Hogan could bring Memphis promoter Corey Maclin in to help start the new company, and Memphis could end up as the center of a new national wrestling promotion. Maclin has been promoting wrestling here for close to 20 years, and it would be awesome to see a local Memphian make the big time.

So, I’d kinda like to see this event at the Forum become a HUGE deal that gets national exposure.

But then, as I watched the show, I also saw plenty of reasons why this might NOT work. Hogan/Wight will be good but it’s one of nine matches on the card, and I posted yesterday about some of the oldsters filling the other eight matches. Last night they announced that Greg “The Hammer” Valentine (age 55) will appear, and they showed him in a match against Jimmy “Superfly” Snuka (age 63). “Dirty” Dutch Mantel (age 57) will appear as well, and they showed a match in which he was choked out by Adbullah the Butcher (age 71). The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Robert Gibson, age 48, and Ricky Morton, age 50) were also announced.

They’re promoting it as a “legends” show, and as they were going through the list they said, “Also appearing will be one of the younger legends in wrestling, Buff ‘The Stuff’ Bagwell.” BUFF BAGWELL? LEGEND? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME? Maybe he’s legendary for putting on bad matches and having a bad attitude backstage, but that’s about it. He almost single-handedly killed the 2001 “WCW Invasion” angle in the WWE by putting on one of the worst matches ever on TV against Booker T.

So I have mixed feelings about this event. Except for Bagwell, the other names on this card ARE legends (by the way, you can buy a ringside ticket for $60 and get to go to a meet-and-greet with them prior to the show). But, except for Paul Wight, they’re years past their prime. Could they really carry a new promotion, or even one show? Remains to be seen. I remember a few years ago when Moondog Spot (out of shape and in his 50s) died in the ring at a Memphis Wrestling show and wonder if we could see a repeat of that on the 27th. I hope not.

Mayor Herenton, by the way, was on last night’s show as well. Looks like he pulled some major strings to get the event in the FedExForum after the Mid-South Coliseum closed for good. That will no doubt earn him some votes among his main support base. The mayor will not participate in the in-ring action, but he’ll be at ringside and will ring the bell for the main event.

Oh, one more thing… legendary wrestling announcer Lance Russell will be there too. Quick story about him: Jerry “The King” Lawler was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame this year, and requested that Lance Russell do the induction. However, WWE chairman Vince McMahon was concerned that mainstream wrestling fans wouldn’t know who Russell was, so McMahon nixed the idea and got William Shatner to induct Lawler instead.

When did my blog turn into a wrestling news column? Hmmm, after sleeping in all weekend though, I don’t really know what happened downtown, so no news to report there. Heading out for my usual Sunday in a little while – brunch at the Majestic followed by a trip to the Saucer to see my waitresses. Enjoy the rest of your weekend everyone!

I looked out the window this morning and saw the thickest fog I’ve seen since I moved downtown 5 years ago. I ran up to my rooftop and snapped a few pics. (Click the images for a larger size)

Mayor Herenton is scheduled to appear at what is being billed as “the biggest wrestling event ever in Memphis” at the FedExForum on April 27.

The main event for the evening was scheduled to be Jerry Lawler (age 57) vs. Hulk Hogan (age 53). It’s since been changed (we’ll get to that in a moment).

Also scheduled to appear on the card will be “Boogie Woogie Man” Handsome Jimmy Valiant (age 64), Brutus Beefcake (age 50), Koko B. Ware (age 49), “Superstar” Bill Dundee (age 63), and The Barbarian (age 48). With a star-studded line-up like that, I’m sure you can understand why this is being promoted as the biggest wrestling event ever in the city.

(Edited to add: Forgot one – Abdullah the Butcher, age 71. My apologies to Abby for leaving him off the list)

However, the main event had to be changed. Lawler is a WWE announcer, and they refused to let him appear on a show with Hogan, because footage will be filmed for Hulk’s reality show “Hogan Knows Best.” That show airs on a network that competes with WWE’s TV announcer. So the main event has been changed to Hogan vs. “The Giant” Paul Wight (known as The Big Show when he was in WWE). At 35, Wight is a mere baby compared to the rest of the stars on this card.

Too bad Lawler can’t appear… I was hoping this would be the start of a storyline with Mayor Herenton, setting up a Lawler vs. Herenton showdown at a future date to determine who is the real king of Memphis. They could add a stipulation – if Lawler loses he has to leave Memphis forever, if Willie loses he has to step down as mayor. Not only would I go to such a match, but I’d be cheering my lungs out for Jerry Lawler.

A few days ago I reported that Thaddeus Matthews’ blog was down. Last night I discovered that while the old address still doesn’t work, he’s moved the blog to the front page of his site and continues to post away.

Looks like Thad’s been busy. He had a near physical confrontation with two members of the Ford family this week – Jake and Sir Isaac, who are Harold Jr.’s brothers. He also posted a video of “the Willie Wiggle” – Mayor Herenton dancing in church – if you haven’t seen it you need to. Glad to have Thad back, my mornings weren’t the same without his blog to read.