Paul Ryburn's Journal

I’ve heard the horror stories about the Time-Warner conversion to Comcast, but up until this past weekend I hadn’t experienced it firsthand. Well, that all changed Friday when I found that I had been cut off… apparently I thought I had paid my bill and Comcast thought I hadn’t. So I got to spend my lunch hour at Comcast’s payment center in a line of 25 people. I got the problem straightened out, paid my bill and got a receipt, and when I got home Friday evening my cable/Internet was back on… sort of. It would be running, although at the speed of a 14.4 dialup connection, for 10-15 minutes, and then it would go out completely for 10-15 minutes. This cycle repeated throughout the weekend.

Luckily, it didn’t matter, because I wasn’t home much. Saturday afternoon the gang met at Texas de Brazil for TdB’s new Saturday brunch. In addition to the usual assortment of meats and the best salad bar downtown, we also enjoyed breakfast items such as waffles with maple syrup, bacon and sausage, and an omelet bar (you have to look for the omelet bar though; it’s kind of hidden out of the way). Here are a few pics:

This is Pete the Trivia Guy (center), who does the Tuesday night Trivia Bowl at the Saucer. Pete: “The other trivia teams are gonna read about this in your blog, and think, this is why the Rapscallions win all the time, by bribing the trivia master with free brunch.”

This is a pic of Texas de Brazil’s excellent salad bar. That’s fresh mozzarella right there on the corner.

A few more pics of the gang:

Thanks to Elliott and the entire crew at Texas de Brazil for an excellent brunch. By the way, did you know that you can go to their website and sign up for their eClub? You get an instant 25% discount for joining, and they’ll sometimes send you coupons for 50% off, and for complimentary birthday and anniversary dinners.

After brunch we took a two-hour nap break, then moved on to the Flying Saucer for Rapscallion Party III, where we proceeded to cash in our $395 worth of gift certificates won at Tuesday trivia since the beginning of December. It took us three and a half hours to drain the tab, but we did it. In fact, we stayed and drank for quite a while after the tab was gone. Most of the team threw darts, taking an hour-plus to finish games thanks to all the beer; I chose to move to the band room, where I stayed for all three sets of The Dempseys’ performance.

Sunday was the second installment of brunch at The Majestic Grille, and it’s clear that we have really made the place our home. We filled the entire bar area with former Sleep Out’s regulars, and bartender Tiffany is already becoming one of the gang. This week I had the Andouille sausage and cheese frittata, and it was delicious. My friend Clay sitting to my left had the vegetable and goat cheese frittata, and it smelled unbelievably good – that’s going to be my choice for next week. I took pics of both frittatas but I haven’t downloaded those from the camera yet. I’ll post ’em later in the week.

After about 5 huge mimosas, I decided I had heard enough of the show tunes Terry (aka Terrence aka Black Man), who was sitting to my right, was singing, and I moved on to the Flying Saucer with Clay & friends. Hung out there for the rest of the afternoon shooting pool. I did surprisingly well considering the amount I had to drink, going on a 4-game winning streak before Saucer regular Ken (who I’ve never, ever seen play pool before) took me down. I had no idea Ken was such a good pool player. Around 7 I decided to call it a night – for me, a relatively early night.

What a fun weekend… I can tell that Sundays are going to be play days from now on. I’ve been bringing the laptop and getting some work done while I eat and drink, but I think my Sunday productivity will be coming to an end for a while.

Plans for tonight… well, let’s see, it’s Pint Nite. Attn Flying Saucer: Please start hiring ugly waitresses so I’ll stop coming in and spending so much money there.

Outta here for now… I’ve got more pics and a bunch of other stuff to post, but if Comcast continues to misbehave my posting will be restricted to time spent at Wi-Fi coffee shops and bars.

I just read this WMC-TV story about MLGW head Joseph Lee’s resignation and Mayor Herenton’s refusal to accept it. What’s really interesting, though, is not the story itself, but the dozens and dozens of reader comments that have been left in response – they’re almost universally sick of King Willie and his antics as mayor. There are a few comments in the “if you don’t like Memphis, leave” vein, and there are a couple of comments in support of the mayor – but those are few and far between. I’d estimate the comments are running at least 90% opposed to Herenton.

It’s beginning to make me wonder if King Willie is as unbeatable in the October 4 election as people would like to believe.

Two more events you may want to put on your calendar for tomorrow – Saturday, March 3:

– The Memphis Humane Society is having a grand opening for their new facility at 935 Farm Road, from 10 AM to 2 PM. They will be offering microchip implants for your dog or cat for $15 each. These implants normally cost upward of $50 from what I’ve been told. They don’t hurt your pet and they allow you to be quickly located if your dog or cat runs away and is found.

– The Sierra Club of Memphis will have a Downtown Sunset/Full Moon Hike tomorrow, starting at 4:30 PM. This will be a three mile hike through Downtown Memphis, concluding at a Downtown restaurant. If you’re interested, you can meet them at the Union/Riverside trolley stop at 4:30.

That’s all for now… time to get out of here, have a good weekend.

Memphis Roller Derby will kick off its 2007 season this Saturday, March 3, as the Angels of Death take on the PrissKilla Prezleys at FunQuest Entertainment, 440 Hwy. 72 in Collierville.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to make it out there, as I have plans Downtown from 2 PM through the rest of the day… should be a good show though. This all-female roller derby league combines beauty, violence and fun. Hopefully I’ll be able to make it to a future event and write a blog post about it.

This morning, as I read about the latest developments in the MLGW scandal, I came across a program that is ***NOT*** connected to the scandal in any way, that seems to be a really good way to help the less fortunate. It’s called PLUS-1, and it allows MLGW customers to add $1 per month to their utility bill, with the extra money going toward lower-income families who are having trouble paying their bills. The program is administered by the Metropolitan Inter-Faith Association (MIFA). Sounds like a worthwhile thing to do. I think I’ll sign up.

Man, the MLGW thing is turning into a big mess… while individuals and small businesses with past due bills in the $300 range get their power cut, Edmund Ford is allowed to keep his power with a bill that’s in the five figures. And that’s not all… blogger Thaddeus Matthews uncovered an entire list of businesses that are more than 30 days past due and who have HUGE bills. The one I find most interesting is Memphis Publishing Company (i.e. The Commercial Appeal) – more than $79,000 past due. How can we expect complete, unbiased reporting on this matter from the CA when they’re almost 80 grand behind on their utility bills? Look to Thad and also to the Memphis Flyer for the best coverage of the MLGW case.

Just in… MLGW boss Lee just handed in his resignation and King Willie refused to accept it. This is getting interesting.

This is a drunk post.

So tonight I was out and I heard that legendary Sleep Out’s bartender FRENCHIE will be at the Holiday Inn Select Friday night. In case you don’t know where that is, here’s how to find the HI Select: Drive downtown. Find The Peabody. Look across the street (Union Avenue). You’ll see the Select.

Although I haven’t in the past been a fan of Holiday Inn bars, I have to praise them for having the common sense to realize that a popular former Sleep Out’s bartender is going to bring a built-in regular crowd and generate a lot of business. That’s more common sense that a 20-year veteran of the Downtown Memphis restaurant scene has displayed recently. A lot more. Steak, anyone?

Frenchie doesn’t know I’m posting this, by the way, so don’t hold him responsible. No one other than myself and Coors Light (yes I know it’s shitty beer, but it was on tap at Blues City) are responsible. If there are any inaccuracies in this post let me know.

What else… I went to see The Dempseys @ Blues City tonight and Bradley D. wanted me to blog the fact that he had on a shirt with flowers on it. It matched his guitar, actually. On the way home I stopped by Big Foot for drunken food, and forgot to ask Shawn about a rumor I heard that he’s honoring Sleep Out’s happy hour specials for former regulars, whatever that means.

The Dempseys, by the way, will be playing the Saucer Saturday, March 3 at 9:30. There’s a slight chance I might be there.

Congrats to the Rapscallions on a first-place victory at trivia Tuesday night, adding $50 to our stash for a total of $395. We’re gonna have to cash in those gift certificates one of these days.

Go read the CA article on EP Delta Kitchen executive chef Michael Patrick if you haven’t already.

That’s all. I got home with my food and it started raining cats and dogs 1 minute later. Guess I’ll pass out now.

Members of one of the top bands at this past weekend’s folk festival, Madrigaia, will be performing tonight (Tuesday) at Otherlands at 9:30.

Madrigaia consists of 7 vocalists and 1 percussionist. They sing in 16 languages; after the festival, half the band went home, and half stayed here. The four who are still here in town will be at Otherlands tonight, performing “some Madrigaia songs, but mostly random songs we’ve written or covered.”

Check them out – here are links to their website and their Myspace page.

Took some NyQuil last night to fight off the bug that seems to be going around lately, particularly at my office. It led to some interesting dreams.

In the first dream, I attended the black-tie carinval coronation ball that fellow bloggers Ptolemy Kat and Philip attended last Saturday at the University Club. Only in my dream the ball wasn’t at the University Club, but at the Greyhound bus station downtown.

I’m not sure which is more absurd, a black-tie event at a bus station, or me in a tuxedo. I can just see them trying to announce the krewe’s royalty for the year. “And this year’s… no, sir, I’m sorry, I don’t have ’bout fitty-two cent… this year’s queen… no, sir, I don’t have a cigarette either… this year’s queen is Qu… SIR, I’M TRYING TO MAKE AN ANNOUNCEMENT HERE, NO I DON’T HAVE A DOLLAR!… Queen Kathryn.”

Maybe their carnival krewe should look into booking next year’s coronation ball at the Greyhound station. Of course, they’d have to give it a cutesy-poo abbreviated name (they call the University Club the “U-Club”) to show everyone that they’re in like Flynn with the place. Hmmm… the “G-station” or the “b-station” just isn’t very sexy… how about the “G-spot?”

For my second dream, I was driving down Union Avenue, but as I approached the I-240 bridge the street was under construction and there were all kinds of detour ramps. I tried to find the ramp that corresponded to Highway 56, which was Union’s highway number in my dream (but not in real life). But I soon got all confused and ended up going the wrong way down one of the other ramps. I had to get out of my car, pick it up, and carry it out of harm’s way. Apparently I work out more in my dreams than I do in everyday reality.

So then I carried my car up a flight of stairs, and I was then in an airport terminal, looking for gate 56. I think I found my gate, but I can’t remember if I ever made it home. Next time I drive in one of my dreams I’m going to have to take Madison, instead of Union, when I head downtown.

In the third dream, I attended some kind of reception in a big convention-center type building out in the eastern part of town. It seemed to be a good event, but I was a bit concerned that there was a live tiger in the middle of the room, with only a fence made of some flimsy tarps holding him back. No one else seemed to care that the tiger was there. Sure enough, he bounded right over the fence and headed straight for me. He bit my hand, but I managed to run to the building entrance and I got a closed door in between the tiger and me. A moment later someone walked out and the tiger followed him through the door, but I walked in just as the tiger walked out, again escaping him.

As I walked back through the building, I spotted a lion walking around. Again, no one seemed to be concerned, but I decided enough was enough. I walked out the back door, figuring I’d circle the building, keeping a fair distance in case the tiger was still outside, and eventually I’d get back to the parking lot and my car. I didn’t see the tiger, but I did encounter a rhinoceros. Luckily he was a small rhino, he didn’t seem that interested in charging me, and I was able to climb up a hill that was too steep for him to follow. I made it to my car and got out of there.

I’m pretty sure there were one or two other dreams as well but the details escape me. Wow, those were some wild ones. Now I understand why the downtown bums chug entire bottles of NyQuil. It definitely puts you in an altered state of mind.

The ladies of VDay Memphis e-mailed me and asked if I could mention their upcoming event. “We’re a lively group of Memphis ladies – students, moms, professionals, artists, teachers, theater folks – from all backgrounds, ages, and ethnic groups – who work hard to put together this annual show to benefit local battered women and children,” they explained.

Sounds like a good group. Here are the details:

VDay Memphis, 2007

8th Annual Benefit Performance of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” at TheaterWorks, 2085 Monroe Avenue. March 2nd & 3rd. Friday, March 3rd is Pay What You Can Night for dress rehearsal. Saturday March 3rd is performance, party, bar, music and silent auction. Doors open 7PM both nights, shows start at 8PM. $10 at the door, tickets also available at Otherlands Coffee House on S. Cooper, or call 396-VDAY, or visit vdaymemphis.org. Proceeds benefit the YWCA Women’s Shelter & the Exchange Club of Memphis. VDAY is a global movement to stop violence against women and girls.

Yesterday the former Sleep Out Louie’s Sunday brunch crew took the show on the road to the Majestic Grille, on the Main Street Mall between Gayoso and Peabody Place. They treated us like kings and we had a great time.

I had the smoked salmon hash browns ($9), pictured above, which consisted of hashbrowned new potatoes covered with salmon, poached eggs, and Hollandaise sauce. It was so rich that I couldn’t finish more than half of it. Easily one of the best Sunday brunch meals I’ve ever had.

One of the other brunchers had the Andouille sausage and cheese frittata ($8), and raved about it as highly as I did about my hash browns. That’ll be my order next Sunday.

And, of course, it just wouldn’t be Sunday brunch without this:

$12 bottles of champagne with real orange juice (not that powdered “O.J.” stuff that Sleep Out’s had), and orange slices for garnish. Nice.

I’m getting hungry just typing this. Looks like we’ve found a new home on Sundays, although the Majestic may have competition a few months from now if the Blue Monkey opens on schedule.