Kooky Parties

Kooky Canuck has a couple of parties coming up over the next couple of weeks. The first is this Saturday night. The Stetsons and Stars Kick Off Party benefiting The Alzheimer's Association kicks off at 8pm and will feature $1.06 Bud Light draft beer until 2am. There will also be a entertainment provided by country music artists The Mulch Brothers. All of this for NO cover.

Kooky Canuck will also throw a Mardi Gras party on Tuesday, February 16. More details to come.

Snow Day On Friday?, Grizz/Pistons, TV Tonight

For those of you that like three-day weekends, you might be in luck this weekend. Unfortunately, it may not be a snow-filled day. The National Weather Service has issued a winter weather watch beginning Thursday night and ending on Friday. If the weather gals and guys are right, we may have freezing rain, mixed with some snow and high winds. Stock up on your supplies now. If off, where will everyone be hanging out?

Call it bad economic times or an unwillingness for fans to follow a bad team, but it is amazing to see the amount of empty seats at the Palace at Auburn Hills for tonight's Grizzlies/Pistons game. Just a few years ago, Pistons tickets were extremely difficult to get. These days, you can't give them away.

Lots of TV options tonight. The Grizzlies game is on FoxSports Tennessee. The Tigers play at Marshall on CBS College Sports. And the State of the Union address will be on several stations this evening.

Swanky's Moving Forward, Pier Closed

Swanky's Taco Shop on Poplar near Colonial is moving forward with construction. It was initially believed that Swanky's would open in this location in the fall. Today, crews were working on what appears to a patio addition to the space former occupied by Atlanta Bread Company.

The Pier has closed its Downtown location. To be honest, who knew that this place was still open. The only time you ever see people at the Pier is during Downtown's crawfish festival. The space needs some serious updates before a new tenant considers moving in. Should be interesting to see if anyone is will to take a risk and open a new restaurant or club in this space.

Grizzlies Streak Continues, Saints

If you have heard about streaker rumors near 191 Beale Street, you can rest assured that it's not Silky O'Sullivan (no offense) running naked down the street. Instead of a streaker, you will find a record setting winning streak. Tonight, the Grizzlies extended their franchise record home winning streak to 11 games with a win over the Orlando Magic. With the win, the Grizzlies are now 24-19.

The Grizzlies are executing the best marketing tactic around - winning. Winning will generate buzz, fill seats and sell merchandise. A win-win for all involved. Zach Randolph and his crew hit the road for two games before returning home on Saturday to take on Chris Paul and the New Orleans Hornets. Kobe Bryant, Pao Gasol and the rest of the Lakers will be at FedEx Forum next Monday night. Get your tickets here.



How about them Saints? After 43 years, the New Orleans Saints have finally made it to the Super Bowl. When Garrett Hartley hit the game winning kick, the crowd erupted with cheers. Some of the cheers, quickly turned to tears of joy. Downtown New Orleans was insane after the game. Bourbon Street was rocking, bars were crowded, fans were dancing on top of cars and traffic was at a standstill...almost like a Mardi Gras atmosphere. Saints fans will have two weeks to recover before Super Bowl XLIV arrives. The place to watch the big game in Memphis will be Calhoun's, which was PACKED on Sunday night.

Last Mondays, So Long Conan, Blues Challenge

Flight Restaurant and Wine Bar will be having a wine dinner the last Monday of each month. This Monday Flight will pair with Fritz Winery in Dry Creek Valley and prepare a wine dinner at 7pm. The four course dinner including wine is $65 per person. For reservations call Flight at (901)521-8005.

Here is the menu for the Fritz tasting.

Soup
Asparagus Bisque
(Paired with Fritz Pinot Noir 2008)

Salad
Pecan Crusted Goat Cheese, Baby Spinach & Warm Apple Cider Vinaigrette
(Paired with Fritz Sauvignon Blanc 2008)

Entree
Chilean Seabass, Herbed Yukon Gold Mashed Potatoes & Creole Hollandaise
(Paired with Fritz Chardonnay 2008)
~ OR ~
Filet Mignon with Gratin Potatoes and Vin Rouge Glaze
(Paired with Fritz Cabernet Sauvignon 2007)

Dessert Flight
~ Chocolate Cheesecake with white chocolate chips
~ Chocolate Parfait
~ Chocolate Crème Brulee
(All paired with Fritz Late Harvest Zinfandel 2007)

It looks like Conan O'Brien has struck a deal with NBC to be released to from his contract. As part of the arrangement, Conan has a non-compete clause that will prohibit him from having his own show until September 1. What are the chances he winds up on Fox or Comedy Central? Conan's final show with NBC will be tomorrow night.

The 2010 International Blues Challenge kicked off last night on Beale Street. Blues artists will be competing at various clubs on Beale street all weekend along. Continuing through Sunday, this event will be your best bet for a good time this weekend. If you get a chance, catch the Jarekus Singleton Band. These guys are good.

Victory Dinner

Where do visiting coaches go to eat after snapping a 64 game winning streak? Folk's Folly? Restaurant Iris? McEwan's? If you guessed any of the above you would be wrong. UTEP head coach Tony Barbee and his staff were enjoying some of the finest bbq in Memphis at Blues City Diner. Sadly for the UTEP players, they were not invited.

Tigers Streak Snapped, Local Gastropub, Bad Politics, Saints Fans

The Memphis Tigers ended their 64 game Conference USA winning streak with a loss to visiting UTEP tonight at FedEx Forum. All good things must come to an end and some fans took it pretty hard. Some were vocally upset and others were in tears. Memphis fans need to realize that winning the conference this year and in the near future will not be the cake walk that the Tigers have been used to in the past. Teams like UTEP, Tulsa and UAB are on par with the Tigers and fans can expect to see at least one or two more conference losses this season. Even with the 3 or so conference losses, Memphis will be a bubble team for NCAA tournament play and they will most likely need to win the Conference USA tournament to get in the big dance.

There is a lot of positive feedback floating around town about Downtown's Local Gastropub. This might be a good spot to check out this weekend.

President Obama commented today that "we lost touch with the American people last year" and followed up the comment with a recommendation for the U.S. government to take a $1.9 trillion loan to pay bills. This would put the U.S.national debt at $14.3 trillion. With a request like that, it looks like he and his Democrat friends are still out of touch. If this keeps up, Democrats are going to get slaughtered in November.

If you are a Saints fan in Memphis and want to watch the game with fellow members of the Who Dat nation, go to Calhoun's on Sunday afternoon. Great bar and lots of Saints fans will be there.

Dish Closing

Cooper-Young restaurant and bar Dish will be closing at the end of the month. On recent visits to the Cooper-Young area Dish looked like business was extremely slow, so this news wasn't a surprise. The biggest news out of Dish in recent months was the now infamous nose biting incident. No word on what may move into the space.

More Students Heading Downtown?

First medical students, then law students and now future artists may be getting their higher education in Downtown Memphis. Pending grant approval, Memphis College of Art is expected to move its master's degree program to a new location on South Main. Not sure if the students will enjoy getting out of Midtown, but this a great way for the college to increase its reach in Memphis.

Grizzlies On A Roll, Memphis Law

The Memphis Grizzlies won again this evening beating the Phoenix Suns in the annual Martin Luther King game. The Grizzlies are now 22-18 and have won four in a row. With Phoenix, Utah, Oklahoma City, Houston and New Orleans having similar records, there could be a log jam of teams trying to get the last seed for the playoffs when the season ends. The easiest way to get into the playoffs? Just win.

One of the many benefits of the University of Memphis law school relocating to Downtown Memphis will be the influx of new people in the Downtown core. The impact is already being seen by restaurant and bar owners. Downtown condos and apartments should also benefit from the fresh faces.

Dooley To Knoxville, New Restaurant Update, Grove Game Dinner

Derek Dooley has been announced as the new head football coach at Tennessee-Knoxville. Dooley is a solid coach with a coaching pedigree (son of long-time Georgia coach Vince Dooley) and coaching experience at Georgia, SMU, LSU, Miami (NFL) and Louisiana Tech . Many Volunteers fans aren't fans of the hire, but Dooley will prove them wrong over the next several years. His first task will be to assemble a quality staff and to put together a top-notch recruiting class.

Dooley was also the athletic director at Louisiana Tech, so he might be the perfect candidate when Mike Hamilton gets fired over the Kiffin fiasco.

Side note - Bruce Pearl can keep the official title of "mad man" on campus.

The new restaurant mentioned in the previous post will be called Aldo's Pizza Pies. Aldo also owns Bardog.

The Grove Grill is holding a Game Wine Dinner on Wednesday, January 20 at 6:30pm. The menu will feature fresh game from Tennessee and Texas. All four courses and wine is $55 plus tax and tip. Here's the menu:

First Course
Venison Carpaccio
with apple-jicama slaw and chardonnay-vanilla bean reduction

Gary Farrell Chardonnay, 2006, Russian River, California

Second Course
Braised Tennessee Duck Bresaola
with brioche toast, green tomato marmalade and sauce espagnole

Patz and Hall Pinot Noir, Hyde Vineyard, 2006, Sonoma, California

Third Course
Wood Grilled Broken Arrow Ranch Wild Boar Chop
with a sweet potato soufflé and Spanish chocolate sauce

Neal Family Vineyard Cabernet 2005, Valley, California

Fourth Course
Flourless Chocolate "Bete Noir"
with fresh raspberry sauté and coulis

Pacific Rim Framboise, California

Fuel, Playoffs, MLK Madness, New Restaurant On Main

A new restaurant will be opening soon in Midtown. Fuel will open there doors soon in the space that has previously been home to Petra and Hattley's Garage. After sampling the menu last night, this place could easily become a Midtown favorite. The menu will feature a variety of salads, sandwiches and entrees. Vegetarian options will be available as well.

For football fans, one of the best weekends of the year has arrived. Four NFL divisional playoffs games are on the slate this weekend. Alex's Tavern and Calhoun's are two of the best spots in the city to watch games. But Sunday you will have add Kooky Canuck to the list as they host MLK Madness with 99 cent Bud Light draught all day.

Coming soon to Main Street will be a new restaurant that will feature pizza, pasta, burgers and salads. The location is not finalized, but all plans are indicating it will be on Main Street near Radio Center Flats. The ownership group owns another bar/restaurant in the Downtown core.

Kiffin Leaving K'town

There are rumors flying around the sports world that Lane Kiffin will be leaving his post in Knoxville and returning to Los Angeles to be the head coach at USC. Apparently the Tennessee-Knoxville job isn't the best gig in college football.

Kiffin's departure is a shame. No more weekly reports on his mishaps, player scandals or verbal wars with other coaches. Maybe he is leaving because Urban Meyer is sitting out for a while. No one to fight with, so off to the west coast he goes. There he can resume his antics by picking fights with UCLA and Notre Dame and by committing recruiting/improper benefits violations that the NCAA already is investigating at USC.

Thank goodness we still have Bruce Pearl to entertain us.

Cold Continues, Artie, Roll....

We finally got our first snow of the season. Only an inch, but enough to have a scaled back winter wonderland. Single digit wind chills are going to be fun tonight.

Sad news in the New York Post today. Actor, comedian and Howard Stern co-hort Artie Lange allegedly tried to commit suicide over the weekend. The Post is reporting that Lange stabbed himself nine times. A few words of advice for Lange...COME ON ARTIE, DON'T BE THAT GUY!

The BCS Championship game is tonight on Fox. Alabama vs Texas. Saban vs Brown. Hook'em Horns! Dan McGuiness is sounding like the perfect place to watch the game.

Umm...Its Cold, Fist Pumping In Memphis

If you haven't stepped outside in the past couple of days, its pretty damn cold outside. And guess what, its going to get colder. Single digit lows are in the forecast for later in the week and there's a good chance we won't be above freezing until Sunday. Wait! There's more! There's a very good chance of snow on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. Who's ready for a snow day?

Something that may warm up the streets of Memphis is the upcoming Jersey Shore Pub Crawl 2K10 on Saturday, January 30. The pub crawl will be held on Beale Street with stops at Wet Willie's, Silky O'Sullivan's, Club 152 and Republic.

Here's a quick check list for those who are participating:

1. Spray tan
2. Blow out hair
3. Fist pumping
4. A love for Jaeger
5. A douche-bag attitude
6. Affliction or Ed Hardy shirts (The brand will dictate how much of a douche you really are)

Basically, you will need to be a douche and look like the lead singer of Color Me Badd, 90's Vanilla Ice or these guys.

For more training for the crawl, check out this video (NSFW).

Big Win For Grizz

25 point win for the Grizzlies in Phoenix tonight. Hollins may be doing something right.

Posted with altBlogger.

Hola 2010, Liberty Bowl, More Trouble In K-town

2009 quickly went by and here we are in 2010. Downtown seemed like the place to be last night with great parties at Silly Goose, Bardog and Paula & Raiford's. Here's to everyone fulfilling their resolutions.

Cars with Arkansas and East Carolina flags are starting to appear city-wide and more fans are expected to arrive tomorrow for the Liberty Bowl. If you are going to the game, you might want to bundle up. The temperature at kickoff is expected to be 32 degrees with a windchill of 26. There's also a chance for snow tomorrow night, but that shouldn't be until later in the evening. East Carolina has a tough defense and should put up a good fight, but Arkansas should be able to handle the Pirates. Razorbacks win by 17.

Speaking of fights, apparently there was a brawl at the Liberty Bowl luncheon on Thursday at the Hilton Hotel. Two East Carolina players got into a fight over a dessert. Headlocks over a piece of pie? These guys may have been trying to impress Jerry Lawler and earn spots on Memphis wrestling. It also beckons the question "what would you to for a Klondike Bar?" To our friends at Unilever, royalty checks would be appreciated.

Run ins with the law are starting to become a trend again in Knoxville. Four players were arrested today and charged with various crimes including gun and drug possession. Isn't there a better way to celebrate a win over an in-state rival and New Year's in Knoxville? Bruce Pearl, who couldn't be reached for comment, is probably painting himself orange to intimidate the district attorney into dropping the charges. Look at the bright side Vols fans, at least Lane Kiffin wasn't involved.