Jersey Boys is Coming!

Jersey Boys, the story of Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons, is coming to the Orpheum January 27 – February 14! I have heard this show, the winner of the 2006 Best Musical Tony Award, is not to be missed. My tickets are not until February 10^th, but I have been excited for months. There are still tickets available, and I have heard that there are really good seats even left for opening night – this Wednesday, January 27^th!

There is also a unique opportunity to meet the cast. From the Orpheum:

Looking forward to seeing the show in a few weeks! For more information, including tickets, times, and dates, please visit the Jersey Boys page on the Orpheum website: http://www.orpheum-memphis.com/index.cfm?section=comattrac&page=details&showid=646.

Memphis Flyer: 20 under 30

Congrats to my friends Kerry and Max who made the 20 under 30 list featured in this week's Memphis Flyer! Great job!

Wine and Beer Dinners!!

As many of you know, I am a HUGE food, wine, and beer lover. I like everything from hole-in-the-walls to pub grub to casual eateries to 5 star restaurants. I LOVE going out to eat – to try different food, meet the chefs, and just have the whole experience. However, I know just how expensive it can get to eat out so much, especially when you want to try everything on a menu and order drinks!

A great way to have a fabulous restaurant experience is to attend a dinner where the menu is set and paired with a specific beverage. This way, you know up front what to expect and can plan accordingly. I have found you also get to try a lot more food items this way! Plus, you get to taste unique dishes that may not be on the regular menu.

There has recently been unexpected (in a VERY good way) surge of wine and beer dinners in the downtown area. I have tried to compile a list below, with dates, prices, and menus. They all look really delicious, so you might see me at a couple of them!

Bon appétit!

[All menus are in pictures below, for formatting reasons]

O Random Nights

What a crazy week last week, with something going on every night. Monday and Wednesday I had various meetings at venues around downtown. Tuesday was Flying Saucer trivia, where we were victorious once again and added $50 to our party stash. Thursday I headed to Calhoun’s to play poker, where unfortunately I placed 4^th (but did get to stay and play a fun NTN trivia game). No one can say there is not always something going on downtown) :-)

So after a bunch of busy nights, I decided to have couch time on Friday. Every once in awhile, it is nice to just stay in. Being downtown, you can always change your mind at the last minute and walk out the front door!

After a Saturday of cleaning and a short field trip to midtown for a comedy show, the sister and I decided to hit the bars and see where the evening took us. One of our favorite local bands Snozberry was playing the Saucer, so we headed there first. There was a great crowd rocking out to the music in the beer garden and socializing inside the bar. We ran into a group of friends I hadn’t seen since new year’s, plus got to see some of their gorgeous new engagement rings. The holidays were quite the proposing time this year.

We then got a text from friends who were at Rehab. We hadn’t been there before, so we decided to check it out. I think this could be a new favorite place. As of this past weekend, there wasn’t a cover charge! They served beer and liquor (so the sister was happy). It is 2.5 stories tall, with a VIP half level upstairs, a chill room downstairs, and a dance floor & couches on the main level. They played a variety of music – from current hip hop to old school to Journey! The sister and I got our dance on for a bit, had a few drinks, then decided to end the night with a final drink at Bardog. Unfortunately (or fortunately, as it were), there is no photographic evidence from the weekend.

I know I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. The random nights can sometimes be the most fun, because you never know who you will see or where you will end up.

MLK Day Celebration and Service Events

King Day Celebration Feed the Need Drive
Sat - Mon, Jan 16 - 18
National Civil Rights Museum. 450 Mulberry. 521-9699.
NCRM highlights community outreach during MLK weekend by collecting non-perishable items to benefit Mid-South Food Bank and the community. Bring canned goods to the Museum to help “Feed the Need.”

2010 MLK Youth Day
Sat, Jan 16
National Civil Rights Museum. 450 Mulberry. 521-9699. 10am - 2pm.
Youth ages 3 to 10 and their families are invited to celebrate Dr. King's birthday to learn key principles on character building and non-violence and enjoy a performance by Watoto de Afrika's Funzzies.

"Love Everybody"
Sat, Jan 16 and Mon, Jan 18
National Civil Rights Museum. 450 Mulberry. 521-9699.
A new Watoto De Afrika Ensemble production, as a tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Coretta Scott-King.

King Day
Mon, Jan 18
National Civil Rights Museum. 450 Mulberry. 521-9699. 8am - 6pm, $2.
Honor Dr Martin Luther King Jr with films, activity tent in the courtyard, children's march, and Soul Soldiers exhibit.

MLK Jr Celebration Day Game: Memphis Grizzlies vs Suns
Mon, Jan 18
FedExForum. 191 Beale. 888-4667. 4:30pm.

MLK Day Event
Mon, Jan 18
Bridges. 477 N Fifth. 452-5600. 9am - 3pm, $5.
"A Day ON, Not A Day Off-A Celebration of the Life & Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr."

Memphis Sanitation Workers' Documentary
Mon, Jan 18
St. Mary's Episcopal Cathedral. 692 Poplar. 527-3361. 10am - 12pm.
"At the River I Stand" and discussion led by Dr Tim Huebner, Rhodes Professor.

Martin Luther King Birthday Celebration
Mon, Jan 18
MIFA. 910 Vance. 529-4544. 10am, Free.
Live music, a keynote address by Bartholomew Orr, and the announcement of finalists in MIFA's annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Oratorical Contest.

Happy New Year! Bring on 2010 Memphis!

With the end of 2009 approaching fast, I decided to take my wife to S.O.B. "South of Beale", a great restaurant on South Main. But before we made it there, we took the trolley to Union Ave and walked back to S.O.B. while checking out the many great storefronts, decorated for the holiday season, as well as stopped by a few other places in and around Beale St.




Dinner at S.O.B. was great and featured their special New Year's Eve Menu along with special New Year's Eve drinks! One of the owners, Ed, took great care of us along with a wonderful wait staff.


After dinner, we head to Calhoun's for a drink, then on to a party some friends were throwing at Central Station Apartments.



We ended the night early as we wanted to be at home at the stroke of midnight to give our baby a kiss. What a great night! I wish everyone a very Happy New Year and may 2010 bring you all the best life has to offer!

Tis the Season - Part 2

Around the same time of the holidays, trivia team member and local blogger Paul completed his third plate, so we all gathered to celebrate both occasions at the Flying Saucer.

After the trivia team party, the sister and I headed to Esther’s house for a potluck style holiday party, complete with Dirty Santa presents. When our friends downtown do a potluck party, they do it up right! With prosciutto wrapped asparagus, deviled eggs, stuffed mushrooms, meatballs, antipasto platter, homemade pasta, eggrolls, and more – we had quite the feast. And don’t forget the bottles of wine, fun beers, and dispensers with all kinds of festive cocktails!

After everyone had their first rounds of food and imbibed a few cocktails, it was time to start the gift exchange. I won’t bore you with the whole process, but needless to say, there was lots of laughter, stealing, hiding presents, and making deals. There were presents of all sorts – bottles of wine, games, food items, lip gloss, Playboys, cozies, lottery tickets, and a…. toilet seat?!? Some of the more popular ones that were stolen over and over again were a Partini board game (which I ended up with!), a beer hammer, and a chocolate cutting board. What a fun holiday night downtown!!

The last holiday celebration I attended was the South Main Association and Downtown Neighborhood Association joint party, which was in the basement of the new Metro 67 apartment complex. What a nice building, complete with a media room and party rooms downstairs! There was a live band playing music and a small buffet with food from local restaurants. After a tasting of the food, a couple of drinks, and a round of foosball, we called it a night.

Happy 75th Birthday Elvis Presley

Today marks what could've been The King of Rock 'n Roll's 75th birthday. Happy Birthday Elvis!

New Year, New Blog software and The Peabody New Year's Eve contest

We've moved to a new blogging site, so I decided to play around with how images are put into the site vs how I used to do it on the old site with basic HTML and an easy mass upload of whatever images I wanted in the blog.

The following were some of my entries into The Peabody's New Year's Eve Party contest where you submitted on The Peabody's fan page on facebook a picture along with the text "New Year, New Memory".

Apologies for the barrage of photos of me, but that was the rule of the contest that you had to be in the photo (and they're the only photos I have access to at the moment). :-)

Various Peabody related photos (click to zoom):

Tis the Season - Part 1

The holidays may be over, but the time for sharing stories and pictures is still going strong. There was so much going on downtown in December, that I don’t think I stayed at home more than a few nights the whole month.

The MPACT party was one of the first holiday celebrations I went to. Comprised of young professionals from all across Memphis, it is always a fun group to hang out with. Plus, it provides lots of good city-wide information and volunteer opportunities. Lots of friends showed up with potluck dishes in hand, ready to have fun. And fun we did have, as evidenced from the many bottles of wine, beer and champagne consumed. Don’t worry… not ALL MPACT events are like this, it WAS a party after all :-)

Next up was the annual Kooky Canuck holiday celebration. I threw on my santa hat and a fun party dress to meet up with all my friends. The KC always knows how to throw a great party with $2 BIG beers, a food buffet, and a rockin DJ. After mingling for a bit, the sister, other friends, and I hit the dance floor to break out our best moves!

I previously blogged about seeing the Wizard of Oz. I was also fortunate enough to attend the cast party. What a fun and nice group of people! They were so excited and interested about Memphis. The local kids from the show were also there, dancing the night away to the beats of the dj.

Later that night, I did have a random stop at Shadows for some more dancing!

Next post: More holiday celebrations – Trivia team gathering, Dirty Santa party, and SMA party.