Rubles For Clunkers

Red Elvises Van for Sale
"With 7 musicians to transport we had to get a bigger tour vehicle. Now we are selling the old one in Los Angeles. Email Jamie to find out more about purchasing the sexiest van in the West. Winning bidder will be able to stalk us across the country in style."

Read the latest news about The Red Elvises here.
and see them perform at The Parrot here.


And here are the seven passengers:(listed left to right as shown on picture above): Oran Ben Avi, Lior Ron, Adam Gust, the Man who needs no introduction, Elena Shemankova, Milka Ramos and Kfir Melamed.
So look out they wili be here, as usual, for Fantasy Fest week

David Elsewhere Around Town

This new Volkswagen ad features the music of Parrot regulars The Spam Allstars with the vocals of Amin DeJesus from Suenalo. Good Work.

Parrot To Reprise Key West TV Series

Pictured above: Fox Network's Idea of Key West "characters"


Parrot to show Key West TV Series, Concert Videos, Roll Back Prices to 1993.

Being the repository of Key West Cultural History that it is, The Green Parrot Bar will begin airing on its big screen episodes of Key West, The TV series, the snake-bittten 1993 hour-long television comedy-drama set right here in our Island City and aired on Fox between January and June 1993.

The screenings will begin on Tuesday, August 25th at 8 PM and will
continue every Tuesday until either all episodes have been viewed or
Parrot patrons have had enough.


Living in Key West isn't exactly like this series, but it sure is fun to take a look at your neighborhood and see what your friends looked like back in the day.

A great vehicle for a little time travel back to the early 90's, the show used a lot of local people as extras, including Tom Luna, bagpiper Dennis Riley, Fred Cabanas, Capt. Finbar, Capt. Tony, Roofman from The Half Shell and even Yours Truly from the Green Parrot.

 An effort is being made to contact those extras who have not been placed in the witness protection program and may still be around to come down to the Parrot for Tuesday night's show.

Local reaction to the show was overwhelmingly negative - and rightly so, but we believe that the passing years have been kind to the short-lived series and have instilled the thirteen episodes with some kind of kitsch and so deserve another look.
And although it certainly wont be 4 shots of tequila for a dollar, in order to add to the the retro mood the Parrot will be rolling back prices on selected items during the viewing.

Following each weekly episode will a be a bigscreen showing of a  concert video, selections will be not unlike those on the Parrot jukebox: an eclectic mix of retro and contemporary music, some obscure, with an emphasis on blues /or and New Orleans funk. Think Govt. Mule meets George Porter jr.

The Green Parrot Bar is your Southernmost Center for Bad TV Culture of All Kinds, at the corner of Southard and Whitehead
Streets.
For more information, call 294-6133.

IKO IKO LIVE at the Green Parrot

IKO IKO perform Junko Parto LIVE at the Green Parrot in Key West, Florida. March 9, 2007

IKO-IKO Returns to Parrot

KO-IKO Returns to Parrot

Graham Wood Drout returns to the Parrot stage with his
legendary south florida swamp-blues band IKO IKO for two big nights on
Friday and Saturday August 21st and 22nd beginning at 10 P.M. plus
special 5:30 P.M. "soundcheck" on Friday. 
A genuine underground phenomona, Drout writes songs
incorporating an eclectic mix of southern musical traditions, Gulf
Coast Americana, Mardi Gras and blues. Labeled by Blues Review
magazine one of America's best kept secrets Graham Wood Drout is none
the less a Miami legend that has worked with a literal "who's who" of
Rock, Blues and Country music.
Highlighting a more than 25 year career, Graham Wood Drout's band,
Iko-Iko, has presented performances in the films "Cape Fear,"
"Contact" and AAA/Blues/Alt
Country radio favorites, "(I've Got) Gris-Gris," "Bag Me, Tag Me, Take
Me Away" and now, "Big Toe" and "The Ghosts of Mississippi" that is
being covered by a wide range of artists as well.
Drout has received the awards for "Best Blues Band" and "Songwriter
of The Year" from New Times Magazine, a Jammy Award for "Best Blues
Band," and his music was
described by Blues Revue Magazine as "Soul filling ideas that flow out
of Drout's pen and into the heart of the listener...the result is
breathtaking."
Don't miss this opportunity to catch one of South Florida's
hottest bands, IKOIKO, fronted by one of Florida's most creative,
provocative and entertaining performers as they blow the
roof off this legendary watering hole this weekend.
The Green Parrot Bar is your Southernmost Center for Mojo Culture at the
corner of Whitehead and Southard Streets.
For additional information call The Green Parrot at 294-613

The Stock Island Tree Snail or "Thar She Blows"

Granted, it doesn't get one's heart thumping as much as say, whale watching,  but for what it's worth, right out in our  yard this morning.  we spotted and correctly ID'd this guy as  The Stock Island tree snail,  or Orthalicus reses reses, seen on Flickr here, a federally-listed threatened species of mollusk.

Not often one gets to find an endangered species right outside the kitchen window, and so for our money it might as well have been a Snow Leopard.
Stock Island Tree Snail:
Historically, this arboreal snail inhabited the hardwood hammocks of Stock Island and Key West. Introduction of the snails to Key Largo and the southernmost parts of the mainland have met with little success. As of 1996, a small population still lived in Key West, but it is uncertain if they remain. The Stock Island Tree Snail was completely extirpated from Stock Island until, in September of 1998, the FWS provided funding to the Florida Audubon Society and the Key West Garden Club to relocate the snails from other populations back to the Stock Island Botanical Gardens.

This from The Journal of Moluscan Studies:
THE LIKELY CAUSE OF EXTINCTION OF THE TREE SNAIL ORTHALICUS RESES RESES (SAY)
The Stock Island tree snail, Orthalicus reses reses, went extinct in its native range in the Florida Keys in 1992. Fortunately, O. r. reses has been introduced elsewhere and further reintroductions are currently planned. Before these reintroductions are implemented, it is important to try and determine which factors were most likely to have caused the decline and extinction. While habitat destruction was prob-ably the ultimate reason why there were so few tree snails, it is likely that an interaction of habitat frag-mentation and the invasion of an exotic predator caused the final decline that lead to the extinction in 1992. We examined the last 93 O. r. reses shells to infer cause of death. In addition, using surrogate Florida tree snails, Liguus fasciatus, we conducted experiments on two previously unstudied causes of mortality: predation by red imported fire ants, Solenopsis invicta, and mortality from falls caused by wind.

We found that the majority of the last O. r. reses shells were intact, indicating that mammalian and bird predation were not the greatest causes of mortality. Mortality caused by wind knocking tree snails onto the rocky hammock substrate appeared to be a potential source of mortality, but few of the tree snails exhibited signs of breakage. Mortality from fire ants appears to be one of the most likely causes of the recent decline and extinction of O. r. reses. Experiments indicated that in a semi-natural enclosure, fire ants were capable of killing all ages of L. fasciatus, even during aestivation. Fire ants are currently found throughout the last known habitat of O. r. reses and were first discovered in this area at the time of the decline.

(As a footnote, I just looked and he's still there).

Afrobeta Late Night

photo credits Justin Harris
Afrobeta's Cuci Amador and Tony Smurphio (dubbed the hardest working 'fro in show business and also the keyboardist from Suenalo), brought their colorful explosion of feel good lyrics, electronic beats and psychedelic mischief to the Green Parrot's stage late-night.

Afrobeta so completely encapsulates so many different aspects of Miami music it’s hard to fit them into a musical box. One would be hard pressed to choose between disco house, ghettotech and funk. Smurfio and Cuci have inevitably created a new sound, culling influence from their heroes Bjork, Celia Cruz, Erland Oye, Chicago, Van Halen, Infected Mushroom, Juana Molina and Mouse on Mars

Woodstock Remembered

Here's my friend Steve outside the Parrot last night while Suenalo was on break. 

Standing there we heard someone mention that it was exactly forty years ago this weekend that Woodstock happened. Steve said he was there and from his memory bank  offered up  a few personal anecdotes of that weekend. 

He was 15-year old  who happened to see the proposed line-up,  (Canned Heat, Credence, The Who, Blood, Sweat and Tears) and said hey, "I'm there".

 And so, with a buddy, hitchhiked up the New York State Thruway, actually arriving a day before the festival, in time to sit on a grassy hill and  watch the stage be built and the speaker towers erected. "My first real hit on carpentry", he noted. 

  Once the stage was completed and the speakers in place he remembers thinking, "This is going to be cool", and when the initial sound check blasted a recorded  version of Joe Cocker's  "a little help from my friends" across the vast cow pasture he thought, "This is going to be really cool".  "Hey, we were in ninth grade", he added.

After sleeping out on that same hill that night, in the morning they walked down to the stage  to hear Richie Havens kick things off. "Well, you know what it looked like in the movie, well we were about fifty feet from that view, Richie Havens proceeded to just tear it up and my buddy said, "man, it's eleven o'clock in the morning".

The music continued all day and into the night amid reports that there were people stuck in traffic fifty miles away that might not even get to the spot where Steve was for at least a day."We were so glad we got there when we did and to this day I've made it a point never to be late for anything".

He concluded his reminisence  by wondering, "How much fun could a couple of fifteen-year olds have?", and adding,"but imagine if we had been eighteen".

Another Woodstock anecdote, not from steve but from Paul Krassner
Paul Krassner wrote a piece for The Huffington Post about his Woodstock experience.
While The Who were performing, [Abbie Hoffman] went up on stage with the intention of informing the audience that John Sinclair, manager of the MC5 and leader of the White Panther Party, was serving ten years in prison for the possession of two joints; that this was really the politics behind the music.
Before Abbie could get his message across, Peter Townshend transformed his guitar into a tennis racket and smashed him on the head with a swift backhand. Townshend had assumed that Abbie was just another crazed fan. When The Who played at Fillmore East the previous week, a plainclothes cop rushed on stage and tried to grab the mike. He intended to warn the audience that there was a fire next door and the theater had to be cleared, but he was able to do so only after Townshend kneed him in the balls.

Been there, Done that!

Joining others who have "Been There, Done That" by showing off their Green Parrot Apparel around the world is Jess Vagnoni donning her Parrot Gear with Mt. Rushmore as a backdrop. In appreciation for her submission we will be sending Jess something from the latest Green Parrot Fashions Collection.

Want some new Parrot Gear for yourself ? Just send us a photo of yourself or anyone for that matter wearing any Green Parrot attire in an unusually picturesque,  historical or otherwise remarkable context and we'll send you something from Parrotphenalia, The Green Parrot retail store.

But what we really want to see is Nunzilla posed  in front of Crazy Horse.
.

Les Paul - Inventor, Innovator, Overdubber, Looper

Word today that Les Paul has passed. Will sent us this clipfor the blog.

Suenalo Brings 10-piece funk/afro-latin/jam band to the Parrot Stage

Suenalo, the Miami-based 10-piece Afro-Latin-funk-jam band
explodes on to The Green Parrot Stage with its polyrhythmic display of
funk, mambo, hip-hop, and jam-band-style on
Friday and Saturday, August 14th and 15th with shows beginning at 10 P.M.
Green Parrot patrons will be dancing, twisting and shouting for two
pelvis-grinding nights as Suenalo brings a their 10-piece funk /
afro-beat / jam band to the Parrot stage.
Any Parrot patron present for Suenalo's past Parrot shows will remember a barrage of
music that's simultaneously Afro-Cuban, Dominican hip-hop, R&B,
Latin-Funk, Cuban Rhumba, and Colombian Cumbia.
Suenalo promises to have Parrot dancers on their feet till the wee hours.
Created in 2002 in the vibrant neighborhood of Little Havana, Suénalo
has won legions of loyal fans and recently garnered Best Local Latin
Rock Band honors from the Miami New Times where they were dubbed as the source of Miami's best new spin on
rock, Latin or otherwise.
The group's 10 members form a multicultural
cocktail, a crashing wave of African beats, reggae, dancehall, and samba that makesSuenalo one of the most eclectic bands to emerge from Miami in years.
A true musical melting pot, Lead singer Amin DeJesus is Miami-Dominican. Drummer and singer Fabio Patiño is Mexican; conga player Alan Ramos is Puerto Rican; keyboardist Tony Laurencio and sax player Juan Turros are Miami Cubans; guitarist Gerard Glecer is Massachusetts French.. Chicago's man in Suenalo is trombonist Chad Bernstein. Other cities, states, and nations may not have a guy in his band, but they are there in spirit: The ensemble employs rhythms from Brazil to Jamaica, including samba, cumbia, rumba, son, hip-hop,and reggae mainly focusing on fusing Afro-beat and Latin rhythms with funk and rhythm and blues.

Melded with horns and gyrating, wah wah-peddled guitars Suénalo's
celebratory jam session becomes an addictive fusion of Afro-Latino
rhythms and American funk that makes one jump in joyful praise.

Astute Parrot regulars will recognize Suenalo's trombone player, Chad
Berstein, as the conch shell virtuoso/trombone player in the Spam
Allstars' horn section when they blew the doors off the place on their last Parrot gig.

AfroBeta Brings Late Night Electronic Beats and Psychedelic Mischief to the Green Parrot.

As if Suenalo wasn't enough on Friday and Saturday, August 14th and 15th the music continues when Afrobeta's Cuci Amador and Tony Smurphio (dubbed the hardest working 'fro in show business and also the keyboardist from Suenalo), bring their colorful explosion of feel good lyrics, electronic beats and psychedelic mischief to the Green Parrot's stage late-night.


Afrobeta so completely encapsulates so many different aspects of Miami music it’s hard to fit them into a musical box. One would be hard pressed to choose between disco house, ghettotech and funk. Smurfio and Cuci have inevitably created a new sound, culling influence from their heroes Bjork, Celia Cruz, Erland Oye, Chicago, Van Halen, Infected Mushroom, Juana Molina and Mouse on Mars.

Without a doubt, success is in the cards for this quirky pair. winners of this years New Times Groove On Battle Of The Bands and MySpace Latino's Get Your Band Sponsored showcase competition.

Washboard/ Harmonica Virtuoso Jimmy Sweetwater at The Green Parrot Bar

Washboard and harmonica player extroidinaire Jimmy Sweetwater will appear at The Green Parrot Bar on Sunday, August 16th beginnng at 5:30 P.M.

A local fixture of the San Francisco music scene for over fifteen years, Jimmy Sweetwater has developed a reputation as one of San Francisco’s premier washboard and harmonica players, having performed and recorded with numerous Bay Area acts. Prior to moving to San Francisco, he had already made appearances with a range of well known artists including Bo Diddley, country rocker Johnny Paycheck, and even the immortal Ella Fitzgerald, with whom he once shared the stage at a New England jazz festival. His playing can be heard on the CDs of dozens of Bay Area artists.

Playing the washboard with the sensibility of a drummer, he has developed his own versatile, percussive style, able to fill the niche of a traditional trap drummer. In fact Jimmy’s first instrument was drums



Jimmy was inspired to build his own washboard. Over the years he has developed a technique all his own, allowing him to integrate the washboard into many different musical styles.

While many people casually assume that a washboard player must play Cajun and related styles, this is not so with Jimmy’s playing. He has played washboard in many ensembles, ranging from old timey rural country to traditional electric blues rock to 1940s style Jazz to indie rock and singer-songwriter fare. This versatility is in fact related to his approach to the washboard, literally. While many washboard players use sticks, spoons or metal thimbles his setup sounds like a snare, and he produces his sounds using metal brushes.

The Green Parrot Bar is your Southernmost Center for Culture of All
Kinds, at the corner
of Whitehead and Southard Streets. For additional information call The
Green Parrot at 294-6133

Take Me Out at The Ball Game

Oakland A's Fan Being Tazed by Police - 8/4/2009

'59 Tailfins

As a preview to this Sunday's Doo Wap show, here's the New York Times recent take on '59 Tailfins. and the related article.

Sloan Labels Bill "A Weenie"

The headline of the story in today's Citizen was:
"Nude beach won't be on ballot
Supporters urge commissioners to decide issue"
but I think the following single paragraph is all one really needs to see the level of discourse and philosophical debate attained with regularity at our city commission meetings.

"A lengthy and heated discussion preceded the vote, with mayoral candidate and nude-beach proponent Sloan Bashinsky calling Commissioner Bill Verge a "weenie" for suggesting that the voters, rather than the commission, make the decision".

Belated Apology

I'd like to apologize for not posting anything for over a month. But hey,  I was on vacation,  and even when returned I had a tough time getting it together to put anything up. 

But, moreover,  I'm sorry that the post that I left everyone to view for that month gave me the appearance of being more fixated on Michael Jackson than Larry King.
Oh well, last summer I think it was about three weeks that  I left everyone looking at  a  Citizen of The Day clipping featuring Evan Haskell and his mustache.

So to Evan, an extra... "Sorry"...and personally, I never get tired of that Filipino Prison Thriller Remake.

Great Pizza If You Can Find It

a  facsimile ham and pineapple pizza.

 The New York Times announced this afternoon that Brooklynite Sam Sifton, currently the cultural news editor at the Times, will be taking over the job of the paper’s restaurant critic, starting in early October,  replacing the articulate but demanding Frank Bruni, NYT restaurant critic since 2004.

  In response to today’s announcement, in the NYT's Diner's Journal blog,  Sam answered a few of the reader's online questions.
One question concerned where he would like to travel on any pre-job eating tour. His tongue-in-cheek reply was that he "had just booked flights to and hotel rooms in Paris, Aix-en-Provence, Brussels, Shanghai, Barcelona, Riga, Los Angeles, Seattle, Toronto, Mexico City, Stellenbosch, South Africa and Big Pine Key, Florida (home to the only credibly fantastic ham and pineapple pizza on Earth — no lie)."

Whoa, Sam, you got us in with some heady company there: Paris, Shanghai, Barcelona, Los Angeles....and...Big Pine Key? 

  You gotta love it. This man, in his first official pronouncement from his Ivory Tower mentions us, and not just us, i.e. Key West or Florida Keys, but this little backwoods pizza joint on which to bestow his unsolicited 24-carat testimonial.

While he doesn't mention the place by name, you know we're thinking  A Nice Place...if You Can Find It.

Man, Ham and Pineapple pizza, I'm ready to get in the damn car right now. 

But, wait, I hope this doesn't fuck things up for us. Scads of city folk from New York, searching out the perfect slice, clogging up US 1 at Key Deer Blvd,  Foodies from all over milling around The Blue Hole in  in their orange crocs,  scaring the real crocs,  or day-trippers from South Beach,  button-holing some Big Pine Key Road Prisoners to give up some directions. ("Let's ask those men, they look like locals")

 Oh well, we'll burn that bridge when we get to, for now let's just give credit where credit is due, to those little-old-pie-makers from up the road a bit, who  one time created a pizza that blew someone  away, some much so, that  the guy who ordered that pie remembered it on what well may have been the biggest day in his life. 

Now, that's a pizza.

Clearly, the Times was not too concerned about choosing someone unrecognizable--although the paper does seem to be in the process of scrubbing their archives of his face, we did find this teeny image so we know who to look out for in the future.


To give you an idea of what the new critic has to look forward to, here's a Wanted poster from Frank Bruni's heydey, reward posted and all.

We're sure that plenty of restaurants had that same grainy black and white photo of Frankie Two-Stars hanging back of house. Some probably wishing more like a bounty than a reward.

The Threepeat