{"id":1968,"date":"2008-05-01T13:06:04","date_gmt":"2008-05-01T18:06:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/?p=1968"},"modified":"2008-05-01T13:06:04","modified_gmt":"2008-05-01T18:06:04","slug":"music-fest-reminder-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/2008\/05\/01\/music-fest-reminder-list\/","title":{"rendered":"Music Fest reminder list"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s a reminder list for those going to Music Fest &#8211; tips to help you stay safe and have a good time.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Wear sunscreen.<\/strong> Saturday and Sunday look like they&#8217;re going to be sunny days&#8230; easy to get burned if you forget to protect your skin.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Carry a disposable rain poncho.<\/strong> You can buy little disposable ponchos for two or three bucks that are small enough when folded to fit in a pocket or purse.  These come in real handy if it rains.  A lot of the gift shops on Beale Street sell these.  I believe Downtown Walgreens does too.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Take an allergy pill if you have allergies.<\/strong> Grass pollen is really, really high right now, and you&#8217;re going to get plenty of it at Tom Lee Park.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Don&#8217;t buy tickets from scalpers on the street.<\/strong> Ticketmaster has a new e-mail delivery system for tickets, which is really cool because you don&#8217;t have to go pick them up or stand in a &#8220;will call&#8221; line.  But, because the tickets can now be printed out on a color printer, they&#8217;re easier than ever for scammers to copy.  Memphis in May scans the bar codes on the tickets and knows when someone is trying to get in on a ticket that&#8217;s already been used.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Make sure you know what you can and can&#8217;t carry into the park.<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/memphisinmay.org\/bsmf_faq.htm\">Here&#8217;s a complete list.<\/a> Cameras are allowed, but professional cameras and cameras with detachable lenses are not.  Backpacks larger than 12&#8243; x 12&#8243; are not allowed this year.  It can really suck to park half a mile from Music Fest, walk all the way down there and then be told that you have to walk back to your car to put up items you can&#8217;t bring in.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Know your transportation options.<\/strong> <a href=\"http:\/\/memphisinmay.org\/travel_gettingaround.htm\">Here&#8217;s a list.<\/a> Drinking and driving = very bad idea, the cops will be out watching for it.  Trolleys will run extra late for Music Fest (&#8217;til 2 Fri and Sat and &#8217;til 11 Sunday).<\/li>\n<li><strong>If you park in a garage, make sure you pay the real attendant.<\/strong> Fake parking attendant scams are numerous in Downtown Memphis.<\/li>\n<li><strong>If you park in a metered space, do not pay anyone to park there.<\/strong> Metered spaces on the street do not have attendants.  If you park before 6 PM Friday, put enough money in the meter to pay through 6 PM.  After 6 on Friday metered parking is free for the remainder of the weekend.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Don&#8217;t give money to panhandlers.<\/strong> Most likely you are not &#8220;helping the homeless&#8221; by doing this, but enabling someone&#8217;s addiction.  If you feel the need to help the homeless, you&#8217;ll do a lot more good by donating to the Union Mission, Calvary Episcopal Church or other organizations that aid the homeless Downtown.  Just say &#8220;sorry, I can&#8217;t help you&#8221; and keep moving if approached.  If they get aggressive call Downtown safety patrol at 281-9146 and give them a description of the person.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Look for the Blue Suede Brigade if you need directions or have questions.<\/strong> These are the CCC&#8217;s Downtown ambassadors who can be spotted in their white shirts and white hats.  They can answer whatever questions you have.  Beware of panhandlers who try to act as tour guides.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Don&#8217;t leave anything valuable in your car.<\/strong> I&#8217;m not just talking about big-ticket items here.  Even something as insignificant as a CD or a pile of loose change left visible can lead to a broken window.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Don&#8217;t take shortcuts down alleys.<\/strong> I understand that you may be parking several blocks away and you&#8217;ll be in a hurry to get to Tom Lee Park, but alleys should be avoided.  Walk where it&#8217;s well-lit and well-traveled.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I don&#8217;t mean to scare anyone with those last few bullet points&#8230; Downtown Memphis is generally very safe.  I&#8217;ve lived down here more than 6 years and have never had a problem.  Just be aware of your surroundings, stay safe, and have fun.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s a reminder list for those going to Music Fest &#8211; tips to help you stay safe and have a good time. Wear sunscreen. Saturday and Sunday look like they&#8217;re going to be sunny days&#8230; easy to get burned if you forget to protect your skin. Carry a disposable rain poncho. You can buy little &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/2008\/05\/01\/music-fest-reminder-list\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Music Fest reminder list&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1968"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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