happy hour – Memphis Flyer

Craig Schuster

On April 14th, Silky O’Sullivan’s hosted its first virtual Happy Hour, featuring a live performance by pianist, trumpeter, and singer Craig Schuster playing songs from his latest album Goodnight Jr., as well as taking requests from the audience.

“He’s been with us for more than 15 years as one of our Dueling Piano players,” says owner Joellyn Sullivan. “We were very pleased, and we look forward to the next one.”

Buddy Nemenz from Almost Famous played this week, and this upcoming Tuesday, Danny Childress, another one of the venue’s regular pianists, will perform. “Danny has been with us for over 20 years,” says Sullivan. “He’s almost one of our original piano players, really, since we opened up in 1992.”

Buddy Nemenz

During Tuesday performances, viewers are invited to a toast as the artist shares Silky O’Sullivan’s drink recipe of the day. The first week’s drink recipe was for Green Tea, which contains 1 oz. Jameson Irish Whiskey, 1/4 Peach Schnapps, and equal parts sour and Sprite.

“We figured we’d share a recipe somebody might not be that familiar with,” says Sullivan. “It’s just another social opportunity to get in contact and to help with isolation and the loneliness of not getting to come in and share time and experiences with others.”

In the videos, the performing artists also talk about Silky O’Sullivan’s Silky’s 2020 Season Pass, which will cover unlimited door charges for any event from whenever the venue is able to open back up until New Year’s Eve. Plus, purchase of the season pass enters new members into a giveaway for a Diver bucket full of cool Memphis-themed swag. Ultimately, however, proceeds from these passes benefit the musicians who have lost gigs at Silky’s due to COVID-19.

“Memphis has so many talented artists, and we have been so blessed with the venues to keep them busy,” she says. “Beale Street, as a grand example, is looking at live music day and night, seven days a week, at least 363 days of the year, if not 365.”

She says that’s a lot of time musicians aren’t getting paid for, especially considering that many of them play several other venues as well.

“There are not nearly as many resources out there [for them],” she says. “They’re independent contractors. They’re basically individually small business people. And these resources that are available to the rest of us are largely not available to them. They can’t apply for unemployment.”

Danny Childress

Likewise, the people who frequent Beale Street and other live music joints in Memphis can benefit from this, too. “Music is for the soul,” she says. “And Memphis is all about soul. So, at our core, wherever there is music, there’s community. There’s sharing, there’s bonding, there is support and love and friendship that is just shared among people. And whether you’re on Beale Street, whether you’re in a church, whether you’re at a concert, that community that music makes happen, reaches down into the soul and connects us and warms us. And we, as people, need that.”

To view weekly Virtual Happy Hours, stay tuned on Silky’s Facebook page every Tuesday at 5 p.m.

Patrick’s Neighborhood Bar & Patio has been a staple of the East Memphis bar and restaurant scene for over 25 years. Catering to families and late-night crowds alike, it features one of the city’s most underrated patios, which was in full swing when I visited the bar recently. Also in full swing? The number of knick-knacks and stickers covering literally every single surface of the bar and walls. It feels like a more accessible Cracker Barrel, but my friend had a more accurate description. “It looks like the suspenders from Office Space. Full of flair.” Between the patio, the bar inside, and the restaurant, Patrick’s offers something for everybody that finds themselves in need of a solid neighborhood restaurant.

The flair extends to the massive menu. There are steaks! There are sandwiches! There is shrimp alfredo! There are burgers, sliders, and tacos! They offer a meat-and-two every day! But as usual, I’m not here for the meatloaf or fried okra or Cuban. I’m here because it’s been a long week and I’ve earned myself a cold draft beer.

Photographs by Justin Fox Burks

Jo Chetter

Patrick’s is a bar full of regulars (a bunch of regulars that, apparently, have also had a long week and earned themselves a cold draft beer), which I appreciate because it means it’s good enough and cheap enough for people to regularly return. While the restaurant area stays crowded with families, the bar is more of a beer-and-sports crowd, a perfect little gem of a watering hole hidden in a family-friendly restaurant. You can eat with the kids and then send them along while you kick back a couple Budweisers with someone’s grandpa at the bar. Or you can relocate to the patio and hang out with the after-hours restaurant crowd who regularly meet up at Patrick’s. It makes a great place to enjoy Memphis Italian Festival without actually having to go into Marquette Park and risk, well, whatever it is we risk when we go into a sprawling festival with alcohol and pasta.

Carrie Stephens

Speaking of risk-taking, Patrick’s contains some items of flair that 100 percent open it up to much-deserved criticism. It’s a Memphis bar, but they’ve managed to somehow stuff a handful of Kansas Jayhawks items into the bar area, which is a move bold enough to a) showcase a huge pair of balls and b) drive away some of the more loyal Tigers fans among us. How has the Kansas memorabilia survived these past few seasons? Is it bolted down? How many drunk dudes have tried to liberate that stuff from the bar and feed it to the dumpster out back? People never cease to surprise me. Sadly, the bartender couldn’t offer any explanation (or the tearful apology I was hoping for).

When my friend went to the restroom, a man sitting nearby told me that he had been coming to Patrick’s for 40 years, which I find curious as it is not that old, but maybe that’s the testament to how heavy the drinks are poured. The right amount of whiskey would make math hard for anyone. He also couldn’t tell me the origin of the Kansas gear; he simply shrugged and said that maybe it’s because the Tigers’ colors are blue, too. Someone come and get your uncle!

Patrick’s might seem, at first, to be a bar without much identity owing to its desire to try to cater to everybody, but a look around the place will clear that up. If it appears that it tries to cater to everybody, it’s because it does and it works. A group of college-age dudes was seated out on the patio getting out-drunk by a spirited group of octogenarians. A young couple sipped whiskey sours (if that isn’t a throwback drink, I don’t know what is) at the bar. A toddler tried to hold the door open for me. People of all ages converged upon Patrick’s to enjoy what I hope is the start of another glorious Memphis patio season. The good news is that not only are we all welcome, there’s plenty of room to squeeze a few more regulars in there.