Puppies

Last night I did something that, for me, is practically unheard of – I drove my car on a weekend night. My bartender Emma from Sleep Out’s was having a party at her house out in the U of M area, and being a little bored with downtown lately, I decided to drive out there.

As I walked in, I noticed a kids’ swimming pool which had been turned into a makeshift home for nine puppies:


All through the evening I was encouraged to take a puppy home with me, but I didn’t. The mother was wandering through the house during the party, making sure everything was okay.

After the party, we stopped by Alex’s in Midtown. I haven’t been to Alex’s in something like eight years. However, we got there too early – it was only 2 in the morning – and we had the place to ourselves. “The crowd will be here soon,” explained my friend James, who has been a cook in just about every bar I’ve ever been to. So we sat down and had Rocky burgers and watched the big-screen TV.

We left about 3 – one of our entourage hadn’t taken it quite as easy on Emma’s lethal punch and needed to get home bad – but I remembered how much I like Alex’s and hope to go back soon for some real late-night partying.

I’m up early and feeling good, so I’ll be at Sleep Out’s by about 11:30 for the morning brunch shift. After I finish my bottle of champagne I’ll walk over the Saucer to see my waitresses, then about 4:00-4:30 I’ll head back to Sleep Out’s for Emma’s Sunday extravaganza. If I read the schedule correctly, there should be a Romanian working there this afternoon/evening. Yay!

Sleep Out’s and Saucer pics

Found a few random pics from Sleep Out’s and the Flying Saucer on my hard drive that I never posted. So here ya go.

Whatcha hiding from John?

Congratulations Mikey!

A couple of weeks ago I ordered a happy hour beer at the Saucer and they brought it to me in this glass. Perhaps one of the waitresses is trying to tell me that she wants to have my children?

Sleep Out Louie, chilling out after a tough day.

I can think of one person who will be very happy to see this pic on my blog.

And this one too.

Last night at the Saucer, the waitress took a LOOOOOOOONG time to notice that I was out of beer. I had to turn the bottle on its side to make my point.

My friend Bob had to do the same thing.

That’s all for now. Tonight is looking to be a late night so my Deal of the Week column probably won’t be up until around 3 or 4 tomorrow afternoon.

Boring post

I’m sitting here having an after-work beer at the Flying Saucer. Abita Purple Haze is the fire sale today, so I’m happy.

This is going to be a pretty boring post. About the most interesting news I have to report is that this morning I was shaving, and – ow! I got nicked! And ow! Again! I thought to myself, what’s wrong here, electric shavers aren’t supposed to do that. When I inspected it I found a hole in the foil screen. So I guess I’ll have to grow a goatee for about a week while I see about ordering a new screen, or if not available, a new shaver. (That’s the only part of my face that will actually grow much hair.) I suppose I could buy a traditional razor to use in the meantime, but that seems an awful lot like work. I suppose I could drive to a store and just buy a new razor rather than ordering online and waiting a week for it to arrive, but again, that seems too much like work.

Let’s see… what else has been going on… the Romanians got me drunk Wednesday night. The laptop that I loaned them wouldn’t connect to the Internet, so I took it for a couple of days and fixed it, then brought it back Wednesday. While I was at their apartment one of them asked, “Paul, would you like something to drink?” and I said sure. So she brought me this coffee cup filled with whiskey over ice. Straight whiskey. God. I haven’t done that since college, and even then I knew it was a bad idea. But anyway, I sipped it and talked with the Romanian who had offered it to me, and eventually some of the others came home and I ended up hanging out and talking with four of the five who are here for the summer – and it was kind of cool, because it was the four who were not here last year. It was nice to get to know them better.

Eventually I reached the end of the cup, and exhibiting the incredible common sense that I’ve been known for since moving downtown a few years ago, I asked, “Got anything else to drink?” This time they brought me a cup of vodka over ice. Now, again, ever since college I’ve known straight vodka is a huge mistake, but that didn’t stop me. By the end of the vodka it was almost 10:00 PM, and one of the Romanians took a card and wrote “DON’T FORGET YOU PROMISED TO TAKE ME TO THE MALL SEPTEMBER 2” and I stuffed the card in my pocket. Probably a smart idea: I doubt I would have remembered my name at that point, much less a promise to drive someone to the mall. Well, at least I can buy a new shaver while I’m out there, if I don’t get it done before then.

So I stumbled down Second to Blues City to see The Dempseys, only to discover that they were going on break right as I arrived. I remember having an in-depth conversation with Brad their guitarist at the back bar, but I can’t remember word one of what was said. All I remember is that he had on an aqua shirt. Oh, and that I tickled the fifth Romanian, who was working there, as she walked by.

Next thing I remember about that night is waking up on my living room couch at 4:13 in the morning. I looked over at my computer desk and saw a styrofoam box full of Huey’s nachos, of which I had apparently eaten one bite before passing out. I considered eating them anyway, but thought better of it since they had been sitting out for over five hours by that point.

One of the waitresses here at the Saucer just came up to me and asked, “Are you writing about how much this place SUCKS?” She’s quitting in two days so she can get away with saying that.

On my way to Trolley Art Tour in a little bit. Not sure what I’ll do after that.

There’s some entertainment going on around town tomorrow which I won’t be going to, but nevertheless is worth checking out. In the morning, the Farmers’ Market will be having a HOT HOT HOT Pepper Festival, with cooking demos by local chefs and an opportunity to share your hot pepper recipes with others. Later in the day, Poison and Cinderella will be performing at the Mud Island Ampitheatre.

I won’t make it to either of those though… been invited to a private party out in the U of M area. That’s right folks, looks like I’ll actually be driving a car on a weekend night.

While I was typing, MySpace legend/Saucer regular Groobie Baby walked up with her friend Tea Bag. Groobie asked me, “Do you still do Tube Top of the Week pictures? Because I have a tube top pic that I would love to be the pic of the week.” I’ve never actually had a feature called Tube Top of the Week, but what the hell, it sounds good, and will be the only thing in this post actually worth looking at. So here ya go:


Groobie and Tea Bag then discussed how Tea Bag got her nickname. “You know what part of the male anatomy kind of resembles a tea bag?” Groobie asked. “Well, our sorority sisters nicknamed her that because she likes having that part of her anatomy on her forehead, in her mouth, etc. Tea Bag became much more popular on campus after acquiring the nickname.”

RSDM co-founder Mikey has joined me at the Saucer. Mikey says to tell everyone hello.

Sleep Out Louie’s will have their usual Emma extravganza on Sunday from 4 to close. INSIDE JOKE DEPT: Since about a month and a half ago, some of you have heard me say that I’m going to one of the following: The Flying Saucer, Sleep Out’s, Blues City, Big Foot, Sawaddii, or Conte’s Italian Restaurant, and I may have made the comment, “The food there is going to be really good today.” Well, it looks like the food is going to be especially good at Sleep Out’s on Sunday afternoon/evening. If you know what I mean.

All right. Time to shut this thing down and head to Trolley Tour.

Downtown Chalk Art Festival – Saturday, September 9

I was asked to post this to the blog and am happy to do so:

Downtown Chalk Art Festival

AIA Memphis and Memphis Heritage, Inc.
Building Stronger Communities Through Architectural Education and Awareness

Sponsored by:

Saint Francis Hospital and the Art Center

Additional Support provided by John Harrison Jones Architect and ReMax on the River

Saturday September 9, 2006

Memphis Farmers Market

at the Central Station Pavilion

West of Central Station, 545 S. Main St., Memphis, TN 38103
www.memphisfarmersmarket.com

Schedule
Registration: 9:30 am – 10:30 am

Contest Start/Finish Times: 9:30 am – 12:00 noon (participants may start at anytime)

Judging and Awards: 12:00 – 12:30 pm

Rain Date: Saturday, September 23, 2006
The Chalk Art Festival will take place in Downtown Memphis to celebration architecture, public spaces and of course Downtown! This event will attract participants and onlookers alike bringing kids, adults and families downtown for a day of fun, art, music and food. The Festival will take place on September 9, 2006 at the new Memphis Farmers Market in the South End. Prizes will be awarded in each category, and there will be free activities for the kids including face painting, balloon art, caricatures and more.

Theme Categories:

Memphis Architecture
Public Spaces
”My Favorite Thing About Downtown”

Registration Categories: Child (up to 13), Adult, Family/Team

Registration Fee: $20 and includes all supplies


www.aiamemphis.org


Good Design Makes a Difference

For almost 150 years, members of The American Institute of Architects have worked with each other and their communities to create more valuable, healthy, secure, and sustainable buildings and cityscapes. AIA members have access to the right people, knowledge, and tools to create better design, and through such resources and access, they help clients and communities make their visions real. Visit www.aia.org to see enhanced collaboration in action.

Good Senate election link

In the 2004 Presidential election, I really loved websites that had maps showing whether each state was Democrat, leaning Democrat, toss-up, leaning Republican, or Republican. Well, this week I found a site that is doing the same thing for the 2006 Senate races. Here’s a link. You can click on a state for individual analysis of each race.

As of today, according to the map, the Democrats have 46 strong or leaning seats (including uncontested seats this year), the Republicans have 51 strong or leaning, and there are three toss-ups. Tennessee is considered to be leaning Republican, so Harold Ford Jr. has his work cut out for him. Even if Democrats win the three toss-ups, they’ll need Jr. just to get to 50-50. And even that isn’t enough, because in case of a tie, Dick Cheney votes.

I’m sitting here typing this from the Second Street branch office. Looks like the pool table will remain assembled tonight, although I’m sitting on the inside on one of the rails so I don’t really have a good view of it. They have two trainees working tonight, and even though neither of them are from Romania, I still have to say, management did a VERY good job with their most recent hiring decisions.

Time to shut down the laptop and get a little beer drinking done. See you tomorrow!

Dr. Zarr on the Peabody rooftop tomorrow night

Tomorrow night I’ll be attending the Peabody rooftop party, where Dr. Zarr’s Amazing Funk Monster will be playing. Can’t wait. The past couple of weeks have kind of sucked a little bit and I am more than ready to boogie down to a little disco. I haven’t busted out my full set of dance moves in quite a while. Some friends and I are getting a group together to go to the rooftop party. Although I sometimes say I’m going and then back out, I can promise you this is one where I will absolutely positively be there – even if the worst happens and it rains and the party is moved indoors. Forecast only shows a 20% chance though, so should be OK.

I believe that ladies get in free until 8, if you’re thinking about going. Not that it does me a bit of good. Wonder if they’d let me in for free if I wore my Beer Goddess costume from last Halloween.

Other things going on:

The Dempseys at Blues City Cafe tonight.

South Main Trolley Art Tour Friday night.

And that’s it for now, the quickest lunchtime post I’ve ever typed. I’m at the Union Avenue branch office. The special today is chicken alfredo pasta and it’s time to eat.

What I did last night: Watched a pool table get taken apart

Last night I went to Pint Nite at the Saucer. I grabbed a seat at the Second Street window, where I had a good view. (A good view of the waitresses, that is; I could not have cared less about the bum-and-pigeon show going on outside.) About an hour after I got there, two guys came in and took the pool table apart and put new felt on. I had never seen a pool table taken apart before, so I took some pics.

They’ve taken the top off and are looking around to see what has fallen inside.

An up-close look at a pool table’s innards.

The slate surface underneath the felt.

… and now the new felt is on. They took a razor and shredded the felt around the pockets.

You would not believe how much chalk had fallen down into the table. They must have found 50 pieces, at least.

Putting it back together. They put new rails on the pool table too. If you look closely you’ll see a cute Romanian waitress in the background.

In other news: I learned that Raiford’s was not closed because of the movie being shot in the area, as had been reported, but was closed for renovations. A friend of mine went last Saturday, and he reports that they’ve made some changes to the bar area and enclosed the section where Raiford stands when he DJs. Sounds cool… I’ll try to get by to take a look this weekend. Always up for dancing and a 40. I probably won’t be able to get any pics of the renovations, because my digital camera doesn’t deal well with that stupid fog machine.

All right. Time to hit Publish and head back to work. I’ll be at the Saucer tonight, as my trivia team begins the process of rebuilding our stash of gift certificates.

I’m gonna make you hungry, Memphis Flyer in PDF format, and more

Here’s a pic of the Chicago style hot dog I got at Dawgie Style yesterday:


It comes with tomatoes, pickle spear, sport peppers, mustard, onions, and relish. You can get it as a combo with chips and drink for $4.95. However many napkins you think you need, get twice as many – this dog is messy to eat.

They also occasionally have off-menu items on the weekends. Last Saturday I went in and they made me this ENORMOUS burrito full of Italian roast beef, peppers, tomatoes, onions, olives and other good stuff, and they topped it with chili. They told me that later in the day, they were going to make quesadillas. So if you go in, it’s definitely worth it to ask if they have any specials.

Once again, Dawgie Style is on Madison between Second and Third and is open seven days a week. I know I sound like an advertisement for this place but I really like these people, and I really like their food.

I’m sitting here at the Union Avenue branch office typing this post. Glad I came in early today, because there were Romanians here eating lunch – the fluffy haired one and the blonde who I hardly ever see. Romania has got to be the most wonderful country on earth. I can’t wait for Emma to come on at 4 so she and I can resume our argument as to which of the four Romanian girls is the hottest.

Around 2ish I’ll make a run to the Second Street branch office to see my waitresses, then I’ll run by the Majestic branch office where I hear my friend Kenneth is bartending. I’m in the mood for one of their flatbread pizzas after they were featured in the Memphis Flyer this week. Then at 4 I’ll return to the Union branch office for Emma’s Sunday extravganza. If I haven’t passed out drunk by 10:30 I’ll go by Blues City and catch FreeWorld.

Sad news… I just hit the Memphis Flyer’s site to see if I could find a link to the Majestic article, and I read that Bonnie Mack, the chef at Blues City, died last Sunday. We’ll miss you, Bonnie. Thanks for the great ribs.

Oh, now this is cool. I just discovered that you can now download the current issue of the Flyer, ads and everything, in PDF format. The Flyer is one of those papers you can’t read online through hyperlinks – it’s just not the same without the ads and everything. But in PDF format, the authentic Flyer experience is re-created. If you’re from out of town and want to know what’s going on in Memphis, the weekly PDF is a must.

Pics from Chad’s plate party last night coming soon. This is a case where everyone else took the pics and they have to e-mail them to me before I can put them up. Time to shut down the laptop and start drinking. Check out Deal of the Week if you just can’t get enough of my writing and want more.

Got an answer on why Raiford’s was closed last weekend

In previous posts I had noted that Raiford’s was closed last weekend, and wondered why. From regular blog reader Chuck D:

Raiford’s, along with E & H’s, is closed as part of the production for
“Under the Blueberry Sky”, a full-length feature film starring Norah
Jones, and including scenes filmed at these, and other Memphis
locations. There is a 2 week shooting schedule in downtown, much of
which has already been completed. However, I’m not sure of Raiford’s
status for this weekend. However, I can tell you for certain that
Platinum Plus will be open this weekend.

Anyone know if Raiford’s will be open this weekend? Did anyone go down there last night?

And Chuck D – you seen Master Polo around lately? I know you and he are good friends. He just kind of disappeared a couple of months ago. I’ve been wondering what happened to him.