Happy Friday everyone! Got quite a bit of news today, so let’s rock the casbah!
We’ll start off with some re-opening news…Tuesday, June 16 marks the next chapter of Longshot, the bar with five shuffleboard tables in the basement of ARRIVE Hotel at Main and Butler (entrance around the corner on Butler). Fun, fun place and may I recommend the brisket queso if you’re looking for something on the menu.
In other re-opening news, Aldo’s Pizza Pies Downtown has opened its patio for dine-in. Lots of people were out enjoying some pizza and great June weather yesterday.
Also re-opening is the Memphis Made Brewing Co. taproom. After doing a deep cleaning yesterday, they will be open 4-10 today and 1-10 Saturday. Here’s a list of restrictions they will have in place to keep everyone safe.
The episode of the TODAY show with Hoda and Jenna featuring B.J. Chester-Tamayo of Alcenia’s is now online. She demonstrates to the host how to make a perfect pie crust. If you want to try one of her pies, check out Alcenia’s menu.
If you go to the Memphis Farmers Market tomorrow and you have kids, be sure to stop by the Kids’ Curbside Craft table to pick up everything your children need to grow a magnolia.
Reminder: Today noon-1:15 is the first Zoom meeting where you can give feedback on the BuildDowntown master plan for the next 20 years.
There will be a Musicians for Beale Musical Protest on the patio of King’s Palace Cafe tomorrow, Saturday, June 13 at 1 PM. This will be a chance for musicians to raise their voices (and songs) and tell the city that it is time to let live music back on Beale Street so these fine folks can once again earn a living.
A lot of people have been asking when Riverside Drive is going to re-open. City COO Doug McGowen gave us an answer in yesterday’s COVID-19 task force update. Riverside will open when we move into Phase 3 on weekdays only. It will open Monday-Friday, providing people another thoroughfare so people can get to and from work, and will close on the weekends to allow people to be able to enjoy Tom Lee Park while social distancing.
Health Department director Dr. Haushalter sees little reason why we would not be able to move into Phase 3 on Monday, and sure enough, here came the complainers on social media: “HOW DARE THEY move to Phase 3 when more than 100 cases are reported on many days??? We should stay in Phase 2! Hell, we shouldn’t have even come out of quarantine yet!!!” Okay, people, couple of things.
- The number of new cases means nothing without also reporting the number of tests. Were there 100 new cases out of 800 tested? That would be a cause for concern. 100 cases out of 3000 tests would be an indication we’re flattening the curve.
- Was there any surge testing in correctional facilities or nursing homes during the reporting period? If they account for many of the new cases, then it’s safer to re-open businesses than it is if all them were due to community spread.
What I’m saying is, the number of new cases can’t be taken out of context. Like Dr. Haushalter has said, you have to consider the entire galaxy of available data as a whole.
For those of you who have gone back to work and therefore are unable to stream the noon press conferences, WMC’s @kendall_downing does excellent coverage live-tweeting. On the days of the conferences (Tuesday and Thursday) I load his feed at noon and refresh every few minutes.
It’s the Summer of the Kayak on the Mississippi. Thursday through Sunday, 11-7 PM, you can rent a kayak at Fourth Cup in River Garden. Walk-up one-hour rentals are $20. Kayaks are sanitized between rentals for your safety.
Take a guided tour of the Mississippi, on the Mississippi, in a kayak… Kayak Memphis offers tours that start at Greenbelt Park, take you under the I-40 bridge, and end at River Garden. Call 901-482-2942 to book your tour.
Or, bring your own boat. The cobblestone landing is available for you to launch your own kayak, canoe, or paddleboat.
Got a question for my readers in health care… obviously, you want to cover coughs and sneezes to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. When a smoker exhales, could that spread the virus as well? The reason I ask is that a popular Memphis bar quite unexpectedly went nonsmoking when it re-opened last month, and I hear that the same is being considered for another bar.
If your Windows 10 computer didn’t automatically update this week, you should consider doing a manual update immediately. There’s a nasty Internet worm called SMBGhost that is going around. This vulnerability can give a hacker unrestricted access to run any program they want on your computer.
By the way, some free advice from a guy with an IT background: Leave your computer on at night so Windows can update itself automatically. If someone gaining unauthorized access while you’re away is a concern, log out but don’t shut down. Some people think computers shouldn’t be left on overnight but that mindset is a relic of the 1990s.
I’m on the mailing list to get copies of city-granted permits to assemble, and for the first time in three months I got one. It’s a Spontaneous Event Exception Notice allowing MICAH to gather people outside City Hall, 125 N. Main, on Tuesday, June 16 at 8:45 AM. The purpose will be to demand systemic racial justice and equity.
CNN has released its first map of Electoral College projections for the 2020 presidential race. With 270 needed to win, it has 232 votes solid, likely or leaning Biden, and 205 solid, likely, or leaning Trump. The remaining 101 votes will come from the states of Florida, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Arizona, which are toss-ups.
President Trump is planning a campaign rally in Tulsa on June 19. Why is that significant? June 19 is Juneteenth, a holiday recognized in 47 states symbolizing the end of slavery in 1865. Tulsa was the site of a race riot 99 years ago that resulted in the destruction of what was known as “The Black Wall Street” and many deaths. For Trump to campaign there, on that day, in the midst of George Floyd protests nationwide, is insensitive and is a nod to the “very fine people” (white supremacists and such) that make up his base.
That’s it for now. I will try to do a post tomorrow but I may have something going on that keeps me away from the computer. Back no later than Sunday in any case.