{"id":26895,"date":"2023-08-07T10:01:57","date_gmt":"2023-08-07T15:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/?p=26895"},"modified":"2023-08-07T10:05:39","modified_gmt":"2023-08-07T15:05:39","slug":"monday-update-217","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/2023\/08\/07\/monday-update-217\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday update"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday I went on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backbeattours.com\/tours\/memphis-mojo-tour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Memphis Mojo Tour<\/a> by Backbeat Tours. It was the final of Backbeat&#8217;s regular tours I had been asked to take in order to understand how to sell and promote the tours.<\/p>\n<p>The Memphis Mojo Tour is unique among the company&#8217;s offerings in that the 90-minute tour is led by a local musician who serenades guests with Memphis music.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/mojo-tour.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-26897\" src=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/mojo-tour.jpeg?resize=469%2C500\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/mojo-tour.jpeg?resize=469%2C500 469w, http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/mojo-tour.jpeg?resize=282%2C300 282w, http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/mojo-tour.jpeg?resize=1200%2C1278 1200w, http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/mojo-tour.jpeg?w=1216 1216w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 469px) 85vw, 469px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>Musician\/tour guide Kathryn Brawley Suda gets the crowd fired up with a song at the beginning of yesterday&#8217;s Mojo Tour<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Some of the places we saw yesterday included<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Early homes of Elvis and B.B. King (only a few blocks from each other)<\/li>\n<li>Sun Studio, where Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis first recorded<\/li>\n<li>Stax Museum and the Soulsville neighborhood<\/li>\n<li>Overton Park Shell, where 19-year-old Elvis opened for Slim Whitman in July 1954<\/li>\n<li>National Civil Rights Museum<\/li>\n<li>Chisca Hotel (now apartments), where DJ Dewey Phillips became the first DJ to play Elvis (and tricked him into an interview)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some of the songs we heard included<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Li&#8217;l Red Riding Hood&#8221; by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs (did you know Sam the Sham is still alive?)<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Sittin&#8217; on the Dock of the Bay&#8221; by Otis Redding<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Blue Suede Shoes&#8221; by Carl Perkins<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;In the Midnight Hour&#8221; by Wilson Pickett<\/li>\n<li>&#8220;Respect&#8221; by Aretha Franklin (did you know another artist recorded it first?)<\/li>\n<li>&#8230; and, of course, &#8220;That&#8217;s All Right, Mama&#8221; by Elvis<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NQqBAP7Du5c\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>I couldn&#8217;t believe how much information and entertainment they packed into that 90-minute tour (well, 95 &#8211; it went a few minutes over). What an incredible value for the price they ask!<\/p>\n<p>The tour wrapped up at 3:05 and I stopped by the Blind Bear for a visit. While there, I checked my Gmail and was delighted to see an email giving me my work schedule for August 8-21! I&#8217;m gonna get some hours!<\/p>\n<p>This week, I&#8217;m free except for training with the company VP on our computer systems on Wednesday. Of course, if she wants me to pick up any other shifts this week, I&#8217;ll happily agree. Saturday is the only day I have firm plans.<\/p>\n<p>Monday-Thursday of next week, I&#8217;ll be at our company&#8217;s kiosk on Alfred&#8217;s patio from 11 AM to 2 PM. The idea there is, if we have someone out there who can talk to passersby and answer questions, we&#8217;ll make a lot more sales on the spot. So I&#8217;m gonna get PAID to talk to tourists during ELVIS WEEK! Love it!!!<\/p>\n<p>&#8230; And yeah, it&#8217;s outside. The heat index will probably be around 109 most of the time I&#8217;m at the kiosk. I&#8217;ll probably get soaked by a torrential rainstorm walking to or from work one of these days. But you know what?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>I&#8217;ll log zero hours a week sitting in a cubicle;<\/li>\n<li>There are no stupid corporate &#8220;Agile&#8221; or &#8220;Six Sigma&#8221; practices for selling tours. You just have fun selling them; and<\/li>\n<li>I have 0% chance of a lengthy commute home because some dumbass drove 80 MPH through ponding water and slammed into a retaining wall<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Another perk of the new job: I have the most interesting co-workers imaginable! So far I&#8217;ve met<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>a semi-retired stand-up comedian<\/li>\n<li>a retired Navy vet who just may be the best storyteller I&#8217;ve ever heard<\/li>\n<li>the co-worker I already knew, who spent years in a business promoting regional music and culture<\/li>\n<li>a musician who sits on historic preservation boards<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230; And I&#8217;m the blogger of Downtown Memphis for the past 19 years. Really, I fit right in. I&#8217;ve found my people.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m not yet scheduled to lead tours, but I&#8217;ve been told I will be soon. At least a dozen friends have said they can&#8217;t wait to take a tour from me. I will probably steer them toward the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backbeattours.com\/tours\/discovery-tour\/\">Discovery Tour<\/a> because of the air-conditioned bus and the Central BBQ snack, although the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backbeattours.com\/tours\/beale-street-walking-tour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Beale Street Tour<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.backbeattours.com\/tours\/historic-memphis-walking-tour\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Historic Downtown Memphis Tour<\/a> are options too.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday I found out a couple of pieces of information I wanted to pass on to my readers&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I got to Beale Street about 25 minutes before the Mojo Tour was scheduled to begin, so I decided to stop in A. Schwab and look around a bit. You\u00a0 may recall that the new owners installed an old-fashioned soda fountain after they bought the place from the Schwabs in 2011. There you can get sundaes, shakes, malts&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>And you can also get the cheapest beer on the street. I saw people carrying around plastic cups of 16 oz. domestic beer (didn&#8217;t catch what variety) for only $3. Not only does that price beat touristy Beale Street bars, but it also beats some of the Downtown bars locals frequent, including Bardog and Max&#8217;s Sports Bar.<\/p>\n<p>While I was riding the bus on the Mojo Tour, I solved a recent mystery that was on this blog. I had been told there was a restaurant &#8211; &#8220;something bistro&#8221; &#8211; at Jefferson and Manassas, known for really good craft burgers and street tacos. Yet I couldn&#8217;t find it on Google Maps or StreetView, and people who worked in the area told me no such restaurant existed on that corner.<\/p>\n<p>Yesterday I saw the restaurant from the bus window, and it&#8217;s called BT Bistro and it is at Jefferson and <strong>Pauline<\/strong>, not Manassas. I found the <a href=\"https:\/\/thebtbistro.com\/menu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">menu<\/a> and they do indeed have craft burgers and street tacos at very reasonable prices.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s see what other news we&#8217;ve got&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eatcocozza.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cocozza<\/a>, the red sauce Italian restaurant on Mud Island, now has online reservations through their website. However, if your party is 5 or more, they ask that you call 901-609-1111 to make reservations. You can also call the number to get put on the wait list. The bar and patio areas are first-come, first-served.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/dailymemphian.com\/section\/sportsmemphis-tigers-basketball\/article\/37750\/memphis-tigers-basketball-third-exhibition-dominican-republic\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Memphis Tigers rolled to an exhibition win<\/a> in the Dominican Republic yesterday. The Tigers were short-handed for the game, several players apparently having eaten some bad salmon.<\/p>\n<p>Today is the first day of school for Memphis-Shelby County Schools.<\/p>\n<p>Action News 5 has a look at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnews5.com\/2023\/08\/07\/jehovahs-witness-convention-returns-memphis\/https:\/\/www.actionnews5.com\/2023\/08\/07\/jehovahs-witness-convention-returns-memphis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Jehovah&#8217;s Witness convention<\/a> at Renasant Convention Center this week. The theme of this year&#8217;s convention is exercising patience.<\/p>\n<p>Also from Action News 5:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.actionnews5.com\/video\/2023\/08\/06\/oh-sweets-skincare-opens-downtown-memphis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Oh Sweets Skincare opens in Downtown Memphis<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Check out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@ilovememphisblog\/video\/7264386178504314158\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">this TikTok<\/a> about the new Downtown Mobility Center.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=1UMgpu4sXA8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Base-brawl!<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Here&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pgatour.com\/tournaments\/2023\/fedex-st-jude-championship\/R2023027\/field\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">a list of golfers<\/a> who will be playing in the FedEx-St. Jude Championship in Memphis later this week. Want to watch the tournament without the Memphis heat and stupid golf course dress codes? The place to be is <a href=\"https:\/\/golfatbirdies.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Birdie&#8217;s<\/a> on South Main.<\/p>\n<p>And finally, let&#8217;s wrap this post up with wisdom from a barmat.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/barmat-scaled.jpeg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-26896\" src=\"http:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/barmat.jpeg?resize=500%2C178\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/barmat-scaled.jpeg?resize=500%2C178 500w, http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/barmat-scaled.jpeg?resize=300%2C107 300w, http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/barmat-scaled.jpeg?resize=1536%2C546 1536w, http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/barmat-scaled.jpeg?resize=2048%2C727 2048w, http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/barmat-scaled.jpeg?resize=1200%2C426 1200w, http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/barmat-scaled.jpeg?w=1680 1680w, http:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/barmat-scaled.jpeg?w=2520 2520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 85vw, 500px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Yesterday I went on the Memphis Mojo Tour by Backbeat Tours. It was the final of Backbeat&#8217;s regular tours I had been asked to take in order to understand how to sell and promote the tours. The Memphis Mojo Tour is unique among the company&#8217;s offerings in that the 90-minute tour is led by a &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/2023\/08\/07\/monday-update-217\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Monday update&#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\/26895"}],"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=26895"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26895\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26899,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26895\/revisions\/26899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.paulryburn.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<!-- WP Super Cache is installed but broken. 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