Memphis in May BBQ Festival

The third weekend in May is always the World Championship BBQ Contest on the river. My company has a booth so it's all the free beer you can drink and all the ribs and shoulder you can eat. In other words, it fucking rocks.

Weenie posing by Jimmy Johnson's car. Yes, we are rednecks.

Here is the our tent. The name of the team is Oscar and the Grouches.

The day was perfect and the breeze off the river kept us from sweating to death.

Dyna found a seat upstairs.

The drinking has begun!

Sunset.
Double fisted!
We left the park around 10:30. I was ready since we'd been there since 3:30. We walked to Beale Street. Our friend, Susan Marshall, was playing at Itta Bena which is located above B.B. King's nightclub.

After hearing Susan play, everyone went home and we went over to Susan's house for more drinking. Her husband was waiting on us with the Grand Marnier. Jeff poured us all shots and we sat down to hear Susan's new CD that is coming out soon. The new record is stunning! I loved every song! I cannot wait for it to come out!

Jeff at the controls.
Jeff kept me up way too late that night. We had sent the wives to bed and were trying to solve all the world's problems. I woke up with a screaming headache that morning. Weenie took me to McDonald's for some food and then I went back to bed.

Cinco de Mayo

A few of us decided to celebrate Cinco de Mayo downtown at the Happy Mexican. Most of my friends had been at music fest all weekend and were too tired to attend. Jumbo top shelp margaritas were ordered. Delicious. Everyone also ordered food to absord the tequila. The mariachi band was walking around playing and that trumpet guy was loud!

The place was packed and we decided to give up our huge table to the waiting masses. Ronnie and Susan invited us back to their fabulous condo on Main. We went and picked up some beer and headed over.
Shooters were made.
View from their balcony.
Our hostess, the lovely Susan!

Drunk!

Weenie playing the juke box while we played pool.

Birmingham Day 2

Saturday morning came and went and we finally left the hotel around 1:30. We were all super hangy. Pizza was in order. We needed grease to soak up last night's beer. I had seen Cosmo's Pizza online and it looked good. We arrived and it was mostly empty because we had missed the lunch rush. I had originally thought there was no way I could drink alcohol. Weenie ordered a bloody mary and I followed suit. It was awesome and I started to feel better.

Check out the bloody mary bar they have. Hot sauces and garnishes!!

DP went to the bathroom and came back with a crazy story. He said they didn't have signs on the bathrooms designating men or women. They only had pictures of what was inside. Being incredibly astute, DP picked the one with the urinal. Sure enough, it looked exactly like the picture outside.

Chicks.
This pizza saved my life. It was terrific. And after two bloody marys, I was feeling on top of the world.

We left the pizza joint and had to make our pilgrimage to the local Harley place. Weenie had to get a t shirt.

We decided we would just go back to the hotel bar and drink and wait for the real reason we were in Birmingham. Shooters and beer were ordered. Finally, at around 7:45, I called a cab and they took us to the BJCC for the show.

To say we had been anticipating this show for a long time would be an understatement. DP and I are die hard Zeppelin fans and the thought of seeing rock god Robert Plant was almost too much.

We had pretty decent seats and when they came out, I got chills. The show was absolutely magical and Robert sang 7 Zeppelin songs including my all time favorite Hey, Hey What Can I Do? Alison Krauss was also amazing and when she joined Robert on Immigrant Song, I almost stopped breathing. The show went on for more than 2 hours and I never stopped smiling.

Birmingham

The weekend after Orlando, we were off to Birmingham. I had just enough time to dump out my suitcase and fill it back up. We picked up DP around 1:00 and headed south. I think I napped. They woke me up in time to snap a picture of downtown.

We checked in around 5:30 and changed clothes. We got directions to The Fish Market and finally stumbled upon it after driving down one way streets the wrong way.

There was only one table outside so I told Weenie to just order me fried shrimp and I would save the table. At this restaurant, you go up to the counter and order your food and then they call you when it's ready. Weenie ordered fried crab claws. I gawked at the $19.99 price tag but as you can see, it's a fuck load of claws.

Here is my entree. Delicious.

As you can see, we had no trouble polishing off the claws. They were so freaking good.

We left the restaurant and went to 5 points. We had no idea where were going but found a near empty bar called the Twist & Shout.

We ordered beer and shooters. We were all so full we needed something to get the party started.

We went into the back room for pool.


And Foosball.
The dueling pianos started and it was awful. Absolutely terrible. So we asked the bartender if there was a dive bar we could go to within walking distance. He said he had just the place. He drew us a map. The place was called Upsidedown Plaza. As we approached the entrance, DP said, "Uh, I don't think this is a good idea." I said, "Come on!"

We walked down the stairs and entered the bar. It was the darkest, diviest bar I've ever encountered. We walked up to the bar and ordered beers. I looked at DP and said. "This is the best bar I've ever been in." The only lights were from the TV and beer signs.

Drunk.
Bartender Britney.
Shooter.
Around 2:00, we asked for the check. 24 beers. I cannot believe I missed taking a picture of the tab. I must've been too inebriated.