Paul Ryburn's Journal

Friday night is your last chance to see Bobby, Josh and Crash perform at Sleep Out Louie’s. Their musical projects will not die with Sleep Out’s but this is your last chance to see them in the bar that gave birth to it all. I’m going to show up late for a party in order to make at least their first set.

Rachel and the City asked me to post this to help promote this Friday’s upcoming event at the Hi-Tone, so here you go. Music by Snowglobe, Giant Bear, Jamie Randolph and the Bloodsuckers, Jump Back Jake, Holly Cole and DJ Witnesse. Looks like this is a benefit to help some of these musicians get to the SXSW competition in Austin next month, which is one of the music world’s most important events. It’s definitely worth it to help our fellow Memphians do well there.

The Fish N’ Flush Aquarium.

Thanks to Andy Ashby of the Memphis Business Journal for forwarding me this information.

As reported here earlier, Sleep Out Louie’s will close February 24 for an extensive renovation and will reopen as Mesquite Chop House. During the renovation, Sleep Out’s patio will be converted into a glass atrium, raising the seating from 90 to 120 and giving the place more of a restaurant-like as opposed to bar-like feel.

Like the original Mesquite Chop House in Southaven, it will feature a marble-topped bar, paintings and dark wood.

The restaurant will focus on steaks and chops and will feature 21-day-aged certified Angus beef. Steaks will be cooked over mesquite wood from Texas.

There will also be a wine room in the atrium. A large wine selection will be kept, and there will be monthly wine tastings.

There will also be a Sunday brunch and live music on the weekend.

Restaurant is scheduled to open June 1.

If you have a tie hanging at Sleep Out’s, stop by between now and February 24 to claim it.

HogCall.com has several news articles on the front page of its site, spelling out the controversies involving the Arkansas Razorback football program over the past several months. These incidents are in large part why athletic director Frank Broyles is reportedly being forced to resign.

Dance collective Project:Motion presents a performance called Emerge starting tonight. Their flyer/postcard reads,

Project Motion deepens the presence of modern dance in Memphis with Emerge – a dance concert which brings six new artists to the surface. These fresh artists (also lawyers, therapists and teachers by profession) raise works from various investigations – the pull of physical gravity, the complexity of family relationships, the portrait of strong women, and the struggle of immigration. Ideas, questions, and passions take shape and emerge, reaching the surface through the art of the body in space.

Performances will be at TheatreWorks, at 8 PM tonight, tomorrow, and the 22nd, 23rd, and 24th. There will be 2 PM performances this Sunday and next. Tickets are $15 adults and $10 students/seniors. Last time they had a performance the Thursday night show was “pay what you can” night; not sure if they’re doing that again.

Should be a good show – it better be, because rehearsals have deprived my trivia team of one of its most valuable members over the past three months. If you’re into dance, you should definitely make plans to check it out.

The word I’m hearing is that Sleep Out Louie’s will shut down on Saturday, February 24, after a final performance by Pam and Terry. That means that this coming Sunday, February 18, is the final-ever Sunday brunch at SOL. So if you want to have one last mimosa or bloody mary at Josh’s bar on Sunday, you better come on by.

Pam and Terry have a page on their website about Sleep Out’s closing – be sure to check it out.

Today on A Better, Bigger Deal: I found a one-day (today) only sale where you can get a 2GB flash drive for under $10, a 500GB external hard drive for under $150, or a 1GB MP3 player for about $44.

My new favorite blogger lives in East Bumblefuck.

And she has two kids.

And she writes about her kids. And East Bumblefuck. And yet I enjoy her blog more than any other Memphis blog out there these days. Because she’s genuine. She is who she is.

Bloggers: You want readership? Be yourself.

Frank Broyles, who has been the athletic director at the University of Arkansas since around the time Moses was alive, has plans to step down and may make an announcement as early as tomorrow. It sounds like Broyles is stepping down unwillingly. Details here.

(Edited to add: Better details here.)

Woke up this morning and looked out the window… big flakes of snow were blowing around, and the Main Street Mall, Monroe, Second and Union were starting to see some snow cover. So I called in to work and told them I’ll be late, hoping that “late” would mean “tomorrow.” But the snow has stopped and the streets are clearing, so my excuse is gone… blast it all. I guess I’ll go in around 10.

I used the extra time to remove the Valentine’s Day Deals from my other blog, A Better, Bigger Deal, and I added some links on the right sidebar to online stores that tend to have Deal of the Day/Deal of the Week promotions. Check them out here.

Here’s a pic of the snow from my rooftop:

Last night I got my hair cut at City House Salon by my friend Amie C., who I’ve known for over 10 years, and she did a great job. She cut it exactly the way I wanted it, and she thought it was a great idea that I brought photos to give her an idea of what I wanted. If you’re looking for a new stylist I definitely recommend Amie. Here’s a link to City House Salon’s website. Their site proudly brags that it is CSS and XHTML compliant… good to know, I’d be horrified to think I was going to a hairstylist whose website didn’t contain valid XHTML.

Afterward I stopped by my apartment building’s leasing office and renewed my lease for another year… so Downtown is stuck with me until February 29, 2008 at least.

Here’s a flyer for a benefit concert to be held on Beale Street this Sunday. I don’t know the bartender personally, but Don McMinn and Night Train should be good, and there will be good people there.

Sorry the flyer looks a little funny… it was hanging in a window on a sunny day, so there’s a bit of a shadow.

Of course, there’s another benefit going on Sunday… Soup Sunday at the FedExForum, 11 am to 2 pm, benefiting Youth Villages. I’m going to skip it this year because Sunday will be one of the last-ever brunches (possibly THE last) at Sleep Out Louie’s. Soup Sunday is a good event though, supporting a good cause. As always, if you go I recommend you get there right at 11 AM; otherwise, be prepared to stand in long lines for soup. The most popular soups usually run out not long after noon.

Yay! It’s snowing again. Looks like a car was doing donuts this morning on the top floor of one of the parking garages. Fun fun!

Mpact Memphis and the Visible Film Festival are co-sponsoring The Concert to End Slavery, featuring the best in rock, hip-hop, spoken word and more, Friday night at 387 S. Main. Artists include Cool Hand Luke, Cayerio, Arma Secreta, The American Radio, and others.

Mike Fleming will be speaking tonight at the Downtown Neighborhood Association meeting, at the Muvico in Peabody Place. He’s not my favorite radio talk show host (I miss Leon Gray) but my conservative/Republican readers might enjoy the opportunity to meet him. Event starts at 6:30 pm, $5 cover unless you’re a member, in which case it’s free.

Yay! I got two blog posts written, and I did a load of laundry, so my “WTF?” shirt from ThinkGeek.com is clean now. It should snow every morning. Guess I have to go to work now… sigh.