From: Listwork

Things That Are Missed in Midtown Memphis

This list can probably be added onto continually forever, but these are just a few (or 22) things that I have thought of that used to be in Midtown but are no longer. I didn't frequent all of these places myself but know others who did, plus there are probably a ton of things I left off. And these only date as far back as 1990. They are in no particular order, except for #1, which is really #1.

1. The Antenna Club: Where I watched The Wayback Machine and Judge Crater, and realized I was just about to fall in love with the man who would become my husband.
2. River City Doughnuts: Diagonal to the Antenna on Madison Ave., it was a good place for a pre-show snack, or for lunch!
3. Lam Hung: A few doors down from River City Doughnuts in that little strip mall. It was the first place I ever ate Chinese food and liked it, and it just had a weird Midtown vibe.
4. Decadence Manor: Closer to Belvedere on Madison - are you noticing a theme here? Cool place. Cool owner.
5. Babylon Cafe: I didn't go here much because you couldn't smoke inside and in 1990 I was all about smoking.
6. Red Square: I don't remember if I ever went there, but I know the rest of you did, though you may not remember it!
7. Recovery Road: Where under-aged kids could see The Wayback Machine.
8. Salvation Army at Crosstown.
9. The Occasion Shop: I know Click(Daily) and a lot of other Midtowners got their wedding rings there.
10. Giovanni's: Keeping with the wedding theme - LOTS of people got engaged there. It was a good restaurant - good food, good atmosphere. It's a shame the owners moved from the Cleveland location to Park before closing for good.
11. That Italian Place on Poplar: I can't remember the name of it, but it was just west of Belvedere kind of where the Taco Bell is now - there has always been one there (at least since 1990) but at some point they tore down the old one and built a new one, but anyway - the Italian place had good chicken cacciatore, and bands played there sometimes because apparently if you serve food in Midtown you also have to let bands play there.
12. Squash Blossom.
13. Cancun Mexican Restaurant: When it was on Cooper across from where Bari is now - the building burned down a few years ago. It was big and loud and cheap.
14. Mega Market: Okay no one really misses Mega Market, but when I needed it most they had the largest quantity of ramen noodles for a dollar.
15. Romeo's Pizza: My brother introduced me to Romeo's - he actually bought me some dinners there when I had no food!
16. Silky Sullivan's patio: Another place to see The Wayback Machine. They were on the western edge of Overton Square. What is there now? A parking lot? They had a small Statue of Liberty that got stolen. I still sometimes wonder where that went.
17. Melos Taverna: I miss the restaurant, the food, and the tiny, grumpy but very cute old man who ran it.
18. TGI Fridays: I can't help it - I got a little nostalgic after reading this review on Dining with Monkeys.
19. Robert E. Lee Antique Mall: When it was the Robert E. Lee, not when it was Kate's - it was much better then.
20. The Cupboard: Yeah yeah I know they just moved down the street to where the old Shoney's was that I worked at for one night, but we all know that the food and atmosphere were better at the old place next to the Kimbrough.
21. Anderton's: A more recent loss, but felt strongly nonetheless.
22. The graffiti wall on Madison: I am very anti-graffiti, and maybe I will list those reasons for you one day, but this wall on Madison was an exception. The wall is still there - just east of the P&H next to (what was?) the BellSouth building (I think?). For a long time it had a giant "MEAT IS MURDER" painted on it (ah, the 90's), until someone painted over it so that it said "MEAT IS YUMMY".

Posted by Elizabeth Alley

From: Urf!

The Drive To Drink

Childhood tends to be remembered as a menagerie of cars and houses, and mine was no different. When I was a kid, we went through several different cars. We had a Ford Grenada, a Ford Pinto, an MG Spitfire, a Porsche 914, Buick Regal, a Renault, a Camaro and a Cadillac. We drove everywhere in these cars, from Memphis to the Gulf Coast and Chicago, to Pickwick and Sardis, countless trips to my grandparents’ and great-grandparents’ houses, to Montesi’s, Central Hardware, downtown to take my father to work and to the liquor store. My dad went to the liquor store a lot, though we kids had to stay in the car while he ran in. I never knew what went on behind the doors of the liquor store. In my mind there were naked women dancing around. Seriously. That’s what was taboo in my prepubescent head – nudity. It couldn’t simply be that there was booze in there, because there was booze everywhere. It was also the 70s and must have been safer to leave your two or three kids in the car with the windows down while you ran in for a bottle of scotch or rum or gin.

Tonight, on the way home from work, I had one of The Quartet with me and needed to stop by the liquor store for a bottle of wine. I debated with myself the whole way there as to whether or not he should come in with me. I didn’t see any reason why not, but something told me he shouldn’t, not because I think a liquor store is some sort of den of iniquity, but simply because I wasn’t allowed to at his age so neither should he. I silently talked to myself the whole way there about the situation, shaking my head and shrugging just the way my mother does, and finally decided, as I pulled into the parking lot, that he should stay in the car. I have no good reason for that. More reason, in fact, for him to come in with me, what with all the crazies out there eyeing my 1991 Volvo 740 wagon. The car could easily be taken with one of The Quartet in it. I really questioned my decision when I got out of the car and was immediately panhandled by one of our quaint, Midtown denizens. But I’d parked right in front of the store, had locked the doors and could see the car the whole time from the Pinot Noir display and the front counter.

So the trip ended safely and neither the car nor the kid were stolen. The kid barely escaped a visit to Gomorrah and I was left with a nice bottle of wine and the nagging disappointment, as an adult, that there are no naked girls dancing behind the door of a liquor store.

Birthed by RJA

From: Click (Daily)

I can't resist one more dance photo.

at 6:50 AM

From: Rachel and the City

About 10 Minutes Before I Was Almost Arrested

So, a few people have been wondering where I have been lately. For those of you who care, after what I like to refer to as "The Christmas" incident, I have been on hiatus from going out.

After seeing the Pirates play Christmas night at The Hitone (they were awesome btw, and are now joined by Mr Steve Selvidge) I was on my way home around 2AM when I was invited to take a ride in my friends new Cadillac...at the time it sounded like a great idea, so I hopped in the car with some friends and off we went. I had no idea the block we were going around was down Poplar to Front Street to Union, and as we turned onto Union on two wheels with Beyonce blasting from the speakers, we past three police officers in the middle lane and you can fill in the blank what happened after that.

As I sat in the front passenger seat frantically dialing Drue Diehl's number to warn her that I may be on my way to jail, I said a little prayer that if I didn't go to jail that night, I would never drink again.

Now, the irony of course is that I'm agnostic! But as soon as I said that little prayer in my head the police came back to the car and told us to have a good night and they ended up sending us on our way (it was Christmas!!)

So, although I highly doubt I will never drink again, I am so inclined to lay off for a while and regroup - cause even though I wasn't driving and afterwards was told by several people that there was little chance of anything happening to me, I really don't want to ever be in that situation again.

So, yeah, I'll see ya around, but please don't buy me a drink...

Posted by Rachel

From: Secret Agent Mom

True Confessions

I don't know if guilt is hereditary, but Miss M seems to be channeling the previous generations of Mormon and Catholic repentance. The last thing she does before falling asleep at night, after the two books and one story and two songs, after the lights go off and her mother growls "Lie down, be still, close your eyes" for the 48th time, she confesses something. She goes through her mental summary of the day and finds something that she needs to apologize for. Last night, it was a fairly recent one: "Mama, I'm sorry for knocking over all the books" (which she'd done by kicking them off her nightstand about ten minutes earlier). The night before last, she went further back into the day and recalled an unfortunate potty-related incident that I never held her accountable for in the first place: "Mama, I'm sorry I fell in the toilet." Then she asks the most important question in her world: "Are you my best friend?" Mama stops growling after that.

Briefed by S.A.M.

From: a pulp faction

February/March Submissions

We're now accepting submissions for the February and March issues.

1) Comic/Cartoon Submissions. 1-2 panels, 1/2 page (4 1/4" x 5 1/2"), Black and White. Should cover a topic pertinent to Memphis creative culture and be at least a little bit funny. Or witty. Or snarky. You know, whatever.

2) Story Submissions. 400-600 words. Pertaining to Memphis creative culture. Brevity is your friend, so is wit and more or less proper engrish. (English works, too.)

Of particular interest:

-- Stories covering local bands or bands playing in Memphis in said month. -- Stories covering albums or films to be released during said month. (Again, Memphis related only.) -- Juicy gossip about people that make art or books or music or movies or clothes or whatever. (Keep it clean, folks.) -- Weird hobbies. -- Favorite Memphis intersections. -- Newsy type things. (I like press releases.)

Rules:

-- Don't write a story or interview about your band. -- Give me something by the 15th for potential publication in the February issue, the more complete the better.

So, get on it.

Thanks.

posted by pulpfaction

From: The Gates of Memphis

A Letter to Target

Robert J. Ulrich
Chairman of the Board and
Chief Executive Officer
Target Corporation

Dear Mr. Ulrich,

Memphis has recently learned that we're to get a new Target store in the area of Memphis called Crosstown. There's been much discussion as to whether Target would choose a suburban design -- a box warehouse surrounded by asphalt parking lot -- for this location. I'm writing you to ask that Target build a store that will embody, in your aisles and in our streets, your corporate emphasis on great design and is mindful of the urban setting you have chosen for your store.



Crosstown is a section of Memphis that was originally an early 20th century trolley suburb, full of bungalows, shotgun houses and 2-story family homes and small-scale commercial buildings (I've enclosed photos of some nearby examples). However the area had declined substantially from the 1960s, when a urban freeway sliced through its heart, demolishing many of these structures, and another planned (but never completed) freeway resulted in the demolition of many more. Businesses closed. Cheaply made apartment buildings replaced houses. Neighborhoods not destroyed began a long decline. Where you plan on building your new store is one of those neighborhoods.


Memphis has only recently stopped this decline. A big part of the comeback has been the infill of homes in the area where the unbuilt freeway demolished homes. At the insistence of community leaders, the rebuilt homes were built to the aesthetic standards of the neighboring undemolished homes. The scars left by the unbuilt freeway have healed thanks largely to the design quality of these rebuilt homes. Other factors are the diverse community who have settled and stayed in that area, and a new downtown to Crosstown trolley system that Memphis added whose terminal is just 2 blocks from your proposed site.


I speak for no one but myself, but I nevertheless ask that as you design the new store, you consider how you can help further transform and revitalize Crosstown Memphis (as well as attract customers) through beautiful, affordable and place-conscious design. Just as Target transformed itself by growing through design, you can help do the same with this area of Memphis. I hope that you will consider my request.

Respectfully,

The Gates of Memphis

From: Paul Ryburn's Journal

Tuesday, January 02, 2007

Had a fun New Year's Eve. Since it was a Sunday, I started with brunch at Sleep Out Louie's, and hung around the entire day playing NTN Trivia. At one point in the afternoon regular blog reader Skippy made the mistake of challenging me to a trivia game, and I handed him a devastating loss. At 6 PM Crash Kole, Bobby Durango, and Smokin' Lemon took the stage: They've been playing together for several months now and their act has gotten really tight. I could definitely tell Smokin' Lemon has been spending a lot of time practicing on the new guitar he got for Christmas. At 8:00 we moved on to The Majestic Grille, where we had reservations for a table of 20. Their special New Year's Eve menu delivered the goods - I had a gorgonzola crusted filet with port wine reduction, with au gratin potatoes and broccoli, green beans, and snap peas sauteed in butter. Absolute best filet I've had in this city. They also had a gorgonzola encrusted ribeye which people told me was even better... ya know, I never order ribeyes when I go to restaurants. Probably because I ordered them at Bonanza when I was a kid. And at the time I thought "well done" (meaning: horribly overcooked) was the proper way to order a steak. Maybe I should give ribeyes another chance in 2007. A lot of pictures were taken, and this time very few of them were taken with my camera, so I don't have a photo album to post. However, the picture of the night was taken by me - the Nuh-Uh Girl in a tube top: The Nuh-Uh Girl and Chad tell me that they're going to try and get "blogworthy" added as a dictionary word. Example: "Is that tube top picture blogworthy?" Thanks to Patrick and Deni at the Majestic for a great evening, and also thanks to our friend Mikey for setting up the reservations and the champagne. Good times. Didn't make it to Big Foot Lodge on New Year's Eve, but I heard I missed some interesting developments that night. One of my blog readers knows what I'm talking about. If anyone has pics feel free to send 'em to me - I won't post 'em without permission, but wouldn't mind seeing them. Wasn't awake on New Year's Day in time to hear Mayor Herenton's speech. However, I read some summaries later in the day, and the big news is that he wants to spend $30 million to build a new football stadium to replace the Liberty Bowl, with construction to begin in 2009. I have to ask, WHY??? Why do we need a new stadium? Is the Liberty Bowl falling apart? Why is it that we can find $30 million to finance a new stadium, but we can't seem to find money to GIVE OUR POLICE OFFICERS THE RAISES THEY DESERVE??? Isn't that more important? By the way, 5 years ago when the FedExForum was proposed, I was firmly and fully in support of building it, even if it meant raising taxes. I believed and still believe that bringing the Grizzlies to the city was a good move to make. But this is a different proposal. It's not like we have an NFL team saying, we're prepared to move to Memphis if you build us a stadium. Who's going to use the thing once it's built? Maybe if the Liberty Bowl were to be upgraded to BCS status, I could see it. But that's not going to happen. It just seems building it like a waste of money and we ought to be using it to pay our cops better. If there's a side to this story that I'm not seeing, please let me know. Heard a rumor last night that the Hot Topic in Peabody Place Mall is closing, and they're selling everything in the store for 50% off, and some items are marked at 75%. So that might be worth checking out if you like their clothing. I'm still off work this week, so I think I'll head out to the other mall today, the Wolfchase Galleria. I wonder how many residents of East Bumblefuck would list the Wolfchase Galleria as one of the Seven Wonders of the World? Quite a few, I'm sure. They'd probably list the Cordova Fox and Hound as one of the Wonders too. And Bahama Breeze. Anyway, I'll have the camera with me, and if anything interesting happens out East (which I doubt) I'll take pictures. I'll be back downtown in time for Trivia Bowl tonight.

posted by Paul Ryburn

From: Joe Larkins

Winding Down the Old Year

Wow. Here it is December 27th and I'm asking, "Just where has the year gone!" I had a couple of minutes and thought I would stroll down memory lane.
WREG did NOT become WHBQ West after all. Two out of three frontline anchors is close but no cigar there. Still, it apparently helped with the formula to help boost the Station DOTR to the lead in certain time slots that they weren't already winning. They still have one more big time slot to hurdle in the race against WMC. We'll have to see how it goes in 2007. I'm sure the former ND DOTR wishes she had stayed a few more months so SHE could claim the victory, but alas, "It's all about timing". The current ND DOTR gets to put that feather in his cap.
Fox 13 proved they have a formula that works in the morning. They will continue to do well.
The ratings trend didn't help the manager situation at the Station on Union. First the GM departed back in the summer and speculation ran rampant about when ND Peggy Phillip would leave. That happened in December. Like her or not, the Pegster left her mark on the news business in the Bluff City. We'll see where she lands next.
Some long-time radio personalities in the Memphis market got the boot, thanks to the bottom line. I hope the New Year brings some good news for them.
The first rumor of the pending sale of the NYTimes Broadcast group surfaced last summer and was announced a couple of months later. Everyone with that organization is still waiting for that second shoe to drop. I personally think the asking price for TV stations may have dropped a bit since Clear Channel announced they were selling their TV holdings as well. Hey, you flood the market with properties and companies that want to invest get to pick and choose.
As I mentioned on the date of my one year of blogging last week, I've heard from a lot of folks. Most were nice, some were not. Hey, I will give the not-so-nice people the benefit of the doubt that perhaps they were having a bad day. I've learned a lot about trying to stay fair and balanced. I have tried to be fair about my observations. A few of you have let me know when I strayed. It can be hard not to jump into the fray.
And, I can't believe it's been almost a year since my Dad succumbed to cancer. I find I still reach for the phone on occasion to call him for advice before I realize those days are gone. Sometimes I just feel the need to talk to him. I really miss him.
All in all, it's been a good year. Like everyone else I've had some ups and downs. The bottom line is that my key still works at home so that means my lovely and talented bride Bethany hasn't changed the locks and the two pups, Newby and Mac still jump up in my easy chair for a butt scratch. Talk about unconditional love all the way around. I'm a lucky guy.
So while I got caught up in a last minute rush and failed to post a Christmas greeting as I had intended, I will post a New Year's wish to everyone who takes time to read this blog.
May the New Year bring you not so much what you want but what you need. And remember, sometimes wanting is indeed better than having.
Happy New Year everybody.

Regards,
Joe Larkins

posted by Joe Larkins

From: The Gates of Memphis

Use RSS, Memphis!

By gatesofmemphis

It sounds geeky, but it's more than geeky. Way more.

RSS, depending on who you ask, is either Really Simple Syndication, or Rich Site Summary, or something else. It's often called a newsfeed, or an RSS feed, and is identified by icons like the one to the left, or like this in Safari. What it really is a file that your web site provides giving a summary of your website's content, in a standard format. As your website changes, the file changes, so it provides an up-to-date summary of your website. Who uses it? Someone with a browser, an RSS reader or even another website. Because it's in a standard format, it can be used anywhere and by anyone who can think of ways to use it. Arguably the best use of it to date has been podcasting, where the RSS feed provides podcast receivers like ITunes with a link to recent MP3s and other multimedia files produced by the owners of that website. In short, a way to detour broadcasting hegemony.

But I'm not writing this to provide a crappy explanation of what RSS is. I write it because it doesn't appear that many Memphis institutions use RSS. I see very few of those icons when I visit non-blog Memphis websites. This is probably a legacy condition -- people have older websites created before the advent of RSS's popularity. But it's important that they change for 2 reasons:

1. not having RSS often means that your website is static. A web brochure. It doesn't change much; new data comes in and sits on a desk somewhere because it's too dang hard to put in a webpage. Your website is written in unchanged-by-data HTML and requires a web designer every time you want to change that. Which means that even though the world changes faster every day, you're communicating with that world in 1995 tools -- or not communicating because who has time to learn Dreamweaver or FrontPage (cringe!) or pay a web designer to let people know your organization needs money to pay your web designer. You might use the phone, but then you're using 1876 technologies. You need dynamic websites that are easy to update by everyone in your organization -- from the Executive Director to the Plant Duster. If you don't have RSS, chances are you're still hacking your way through HTML and your stale content shows it.

2. more importantly, RSS is a vanguard. It's the older brother of technologies, open and free and participatory, that allow the sharing and mashing up of your information. Sharing and mashing in ways you probably never imagined. By and with people who you never imagined might want to use it. If you're not using RSS, you're probably not sharing your information by any means but webpages (and badly at that if 1. above is to be believed). Sharing means new audiences, new partners, new markets, new capital, new funding, new friends, new ideas, new possibilities.

Memphis needs that stuff.

Use RSS, Memphis!

From: artbutcher

Resolutions

do more than i did last year

Posted by dwayne

From: Life In & Around Memphis

Happy New Year, yall

Ok, I had a blast last night at Newby's. I need to upload my pics to the computer. But I'll get to that later. I have to get packed to go hunting tomorrow. I hope you had a great NYE wherever you were. So here are my resolutions for the New Year:

1. Get a job. No, wait. Let's make that a great job.

2. Save more than enough money to have a down payment on a house.

3. Pay off existing debt (which really isn't that much and makes this very possible).

4. Get weight below 185 and maintain that level for the rest of the year.

I don't know about you, but I think those are manageable.

posted by Philip

From: Squirrel Squad Squeeks

Stick out your tongue

One day, Teh Boy is going to kill us.

Recently as Mama Squirrel and I were driving home from work, I veered off the road and into the parking lot of Taco Loco. Mama agreed with me that we needed a snack before we started dinner. I ordered us a quesadilla of suadero, succulent roast pork. I asked Mama if that would be enough. She left it up to me. I ordered a second quesadilla of carne asada, but they were out. "We have chicken and tongue", we were told. With a quick glance at Mama, I asked for "lengua". Another glance at Mama showed that she was unfazed. The dangerous part is not that Mama accepts me as I am; it's that she encourages me.

We both know by now not to try eating Taco Loco food on the way home. It's insanely hot. Besides, we couldn't eat this without Squirrelly, Jr.

Once we were home, we quickly figured out which quesadilla had the tongue. That is the one we gave Teh Boy.

Not long ago, we brought chicken foot home for Teh Boy to try. That experiment did not go well at all, and he wouldn't speak to us for hours after that. We were holding our breath as he bit into the quesadilla de lengua. No bad reaction. In fact, he dug in. As Mama and I were nibbling on our share of the quesadillas and puttering around the kitchen, Teh Boy sank into a chair and went to town with tongue.

When we asked him what he thought, he said that was the best quesadilla he ever ate. He asked when we could go back. We said we would go again soon and that maybe next time we should try the tongue. His immediate reaction was, "Oh, no. No tongue. I can't eat tongue. I wouldn't like tongue." So here we go. I asked him what he thought was in the quesadilla. He said, "beef". Mama said, "well, yeah." I just made rude gestures with my tongue. He looked at me and asked, "This is tongue?" One tense second passed as we waited to see if his head would asplode before he shrugged and said, "Huh. I guess I like tongue. Can I call Nana and tell her?"

Honestly, Mama and Teh Boy liked the tongue better than I did. I have had tongue once before. That time a big piece of tongue was cooked to doneness and put on a plate. That was pretty bad. At Taco Loco, they dice the meat and season it beautifully. The dish is very good, but the meat has a stronger flavor than I like. Still, I wouldn't hesitate to have it again, especially in one of those quesadillas. They were so satisfying that we never did make dinner.

Now I just have to convince the rest of the squad to try the tripe.

Taco Loco
3035 Lamar Ave
Memphis, TN 38114
(901) 743-9295

Posted by Papa Squirrel

From: Bigger Than Your Head

Shameless Referral to My Website

Posted by Fredric Koeppel under Champagne , Sparkling Wine
No Comments

A few minutes ago I posted on KoeppelOnWine.com a “Featured Article” page that reviews 20 sparkling wines and champagnes, priced from cheap to mind-boggling and designed to fulfill every need you might have for those delightful and profound products. I mean, Christmas is right around the corner! New Year’s is right around
the bend! Let our motto be: “We must have bubbles!”
Here’s the link to that page: http://www.koeppelonwine.com/Featured_Article.asp

From: at home she feels like a tourist

Bars of Memphis?

I like bars. Not all of them, of course. But a good bar is a perfect snapshot of night-time urban sociability: it's messy and chaotic, noisy and dark, full of oddballs, chance encounters, missed opportunities, a curious combination of hope and desperation (but then, there's nothing so curious about that, really), shadowy corners, midnight seduction rituals, poetic profanity, and the allure, promise, danger, and threat of strangers. There are yuppie bars and working-class bars, punk rock bars and trannie bars, dive bars and upscale cosmo-sipping bars, bike messenger bars and Young Republican bars and goth bars and dockworker bars and fashionista bars and Latino bars and everything in between - bars and their clientele represent the full spectrum of crazy, diverse cities. And the best bars jumble together strange and unpredictable combinations of subcultures and ethnicities and classes for a bizarre riot of voices and fashion sensibilties and generally embarrassing dancing styles. They feature well-known quirky regulars, beloved jukeboxes, bartenders who become minor celebrities, distinctive decorations and moods. There's something democratic - in the populist, bottom-up, anti-authoritarian way - about this messy, alchohol-tinged sociability. It's no wonder that bars have long been cradles of the revolutionary spirit in nations teetering on the edge.

But bars can only be as compelling as the city that houses them. So I'm pleased that I've stumbled into some great little places in my 4 months in Memphis. I love the spooky, crumbling, mysterious former brothel on the upstairs floor of Earnestine and Hazels, the crazy jumble of art, junk art, and caricatures covering the walls (and ceiling) at the P&H, and the rundown divey hole-in-the-wall feel of the Buccaneer (to say nothing of the pirate theme!) But I figured I'd ask you, oh knowledgeable readers, for your recommendations. Anything unpredictable, off-the-beaten-path, seedy-in-a-good-way, not in the guidebooks, catering to a truly odd clientele? Unload your thoughts on me - I'm on vacation in Boston, dreaming of M-town...

posted by fearlessvk

From: at home she feels like a tourist

Bars of Memphis?

I like bars. Not all of them, of course. But a good bar is a perfect snapshot of night-time urban sociability: it's messy and chaotic, noisy and dark, full of oddballs, chance encounters, missed opportunities, a curious combination of hope and desperation (but then, there's nothing so curious about that, really), shadowy corners, midnight seduction rituals, poetic profanity, and the allure, promise, danger, and threat of strangers. There are yuppie bars and working-class bars, punk rock bars and trannie bars, dive bars and upscale cosmo-sipping bars, bike messenger bars and Young Republican bars and goth bars and dockworker bars and fashionista bars and Latino bars and everything in between - bars and their clientele represent the full spectrum of crazy, diverse cities. And the best bars jumble together strange and unpredictable combinations of subcultures and ethnicities and classes for a bizarre riot of voices and fashion sensibilties and generally embarrassing dancing styles. They feature well-known quirky regulars, beloved jukeboxes, bartenders who become minor celebrities, distinctive decorations and moods. There's something democratic - in the populist, bottom-up, anti-authoritarian way - about this messy, alchohol-tinged sociability. It's no wonder that bars have long been cradles of the revolutionary spirit in nations teetering on the edge.

But bars can only be as compelling as the city that houses them. So I'm pleased that I've stumbled into some great little places in my 4 months in Memphis. I love the spooky, crumbling, mysterious former brothel on the upstairs floor of Earnestine and Hazels, the crazy jumble of art, junk art, and caricatures covering the walls (and ceiling) at the P&H, and the rundown divey hole-in-the-wall feel of the Buccaneer (to say nothing of the pirate theme!) But I figured I'd ask you, oh knowledgeable readers, for your recommendations. Anything unpredictable, off-the-beaten-path, seedy-in-a-good-way, not in the guidebooks, catering to a truly odd clientele? Unload your thoughts on me - I'm on vacation in Boston, dreaming of M-town...

posted by fearlessvk

From: Bar-B-Log

Smoking Turkeys

For all practical purposes, The Saucier is a libertarian. If you want to smoke, smoke. If you want to do so in a restaurant, knock yourself out. If the restaurateur would rather you didn't, get out. And if you don't want to work in a smoky environment, get another job. Anti-smoking legislation has nothing to do with public health. Like all politics, it's about money, power, control and self-righteousness.

With that, I give you guest Bar-B-Logger, RJA:

The Commercial Appeal today has a story regarding the proposed state-wide ban on smoking in all public buildings, with the focus being on restaurants and bars. I’m not here to argue whether this is a good idea or not, or whether the government should be going into private businesses to tell them what they can and can’t do. The solution seems like common sense to me – let the private business owner set his own policy and the free market will decide whether it’s a valid policy or not.

This is the Bar-B-Log, so if The Saucier will indulge me, I’m going to focus on the story below the fold, the one about The Rendezvous voluntarily initiating a no smoking policy as of Jan 11. I should point out that I’m a small business owner and that my business happens to be tobacco. The fact that they want to change their policy is their business, being able to make our own rules is why we go into business for ourselves. And I don’t dare tell the Vergoses how to run their operation, they run one of the best tourist traps in Memphis. My problem is with the hypocrisy, with these bar and restaurant owners spouting off about health and the well-being of their patrons. Nick Vergos is in the game of trying to get you to cram as much pork into your system as you could possibly handle. I can also visit the Rendezvous, drink draft Michelob after draft Michelob, put my family in the car and drive them across town. But there’s money to be made in fat. And there’s money to be made in beer. And if there was money to be made for him in tobacco, you can be sure Nick Vergos would baste it, chop it or pour it up with as much gusto as imaginable.

From: The Daily Diversion

HOME AGAIN!

Yes, I finally made it back home yesterday. I'm back in the office today trying to catch up on emails, reading Hilltopper Haven, and filling out expense reports.

I logged 875 miles from Friday, December 1st to Sunday, December 10. That's good for $389.38 in my pocket! Not too shabby, huh?

I've decided that I like Chattanooga, just not the drive there. I can't stand going up and down mountains. It's bad enough with me trying to control my vehicle around tight corners at 80 miles per hour, I don't need a tractor-trailer doing the same thing next to me! Those roads over there scare the hell out of me, and I couldn't imagine driving them in the rain, sleet, or snow.

My travels were relatively uneventful though. I got most, if not all, of my Christmas shopping completed (and wrapped too) while I was gone. I still have a couple of ideas, but we'll see if I can make them happen or not.

I had a couple of nice meals while on the road, but with the budget restrictions my job has put us travelers, we had to cut it back a bit. I will make one recommendation... If you happen to travel to Chattanooga, be sure to stop by Sticky Fingers BBQ. It's good stuff. They've got several sauces, which are all tasty! I had the rib sampler, where I could have four different sauces. I didn't get to thoroughly enjoy the habanero sauce because I was full from eating the three other styles. It was spicy though!

I didn't get to go to a couple of places I really enjoyed during my prior trip to Chattanooga though. That one meal, in and of itself, would've eclipsed my daily per diem for food, and I would've had to do some "creative accounting" to get that one paid for. Oh well! Maybe when I take my honey there sometime we can go there (on our own dime. Yikes!).

Really, there's not to much else going on here. I'm getting ready to start up a whole new "project" which will mean that I'll be insanely busy, again. It'll also mean that I might be a bit grumpy! My boss told me this morning that they'd like to have it done by the end of January. I gave him my best "good luck with that" face. We just started a "project", which I have plenty of work to do on, and they want to yank me off of it to start another one. Remember folks, you can only stretch a rubber band so far before it breaks and comes back and slaps you square in the face. Right now, there are a bunch of rubber bands that are pulled pretty damn tight!

On a positive note, since I didn't mean to vier off into something negative... I finally got to see my honey again! It seemed like it had been several weeks since we last saw each other, and I sure did miss her! I guess she missed me a little bit too. I think I made her day by not making her watch any sports yesterday once I got home! We'll see if that trend holds out tonight!

Inflicted on you by John

From: Whining & Dining

Plop, plop, fizz/fizz

Was it the gumbo or the Cajun chili I slurped at lunch at Bluff City Bayou? Or the 40 tons of stress sitting on my stomach? I'm a poster child for heartburn aids this afternoon...

I cajoled my buddy Dave to dig into his stash of ginger ale... close, but still feeling the burn.

Forgot my Tums at home... darn. In extreme cases, I'll even quaff a baking soda cocktail... (perfect prep for those burping contests!)

What works for you when there's a fire in your gut?

Posted by Leslie Kelly

From: Blake's Blog

The Ford machine

Could "Come with me if you want to live" be his new campaign slogan?

Just like the Terminator, Harold Ford Jr. vowed in a story in our local news section today that he'll be back.

But if he runs against U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander in two years, I'm wondering if it'll be his political career that gets terminated.

With Tennessee trending Republican in recent years, any Democrat faces tough odds in a statewide race. Not impossible, as Gov. Phil Bredesen has amply demonstrated, but tough.

The thinking here is that it would be a lot more difficult for Ford to beat a popular incumbent Republican than it would have been to win an open seat against Bob Corker, who had to survive a bruising primary that divided Republican party loyalties.

Losing a close race to Corker apparently didn't do much damage to Ford's political stock. But losing two races in two years might stigmatize him as, well, a loser.

Anyway, if Ford's got presidential ambitions, it's hard to imagine why he'd want to run for Senate anyway. This country hasn't elected a senator to be president since JFK.

Governors are a different story, though. Americans have elevated plenty of governors to the White House through the years. (In fact, trivia points to anyone who can name the last president who didn't serve as a governor beforehand.)

And if Ford were to run for the Tennessee governor's seat in four years, he might even be able to wrangle Bredesen's endorsement. (Which would be valuable as long as Bredesen remains popular during his final term.)

Of course, Ford will need to be doing something between now and then to keep himself busy and his name in the limelight. Selling Amway probably isn't going to cut it.

Speaking of Fords, Edmund's legal troubles got me to thinking about who might fill the City Council's District 6 seat if he has to step down.

I'm guessing either Jake or Sir Isaac (or both?) might jump in to make sure the seat stays in the family.

Posted by Blake Fontenay