Green Parrot Bar No Snivelling Zone: 06/01/2011

Pope uses his own finger to tweet

The Pope used his inaugural tweet to announce the launch of news.va, a Vatican news and information portal. He added "Praised be our Lord Jesus Christ! With my prayers and blessings, Benedictus."

The tweet was sent from the Vatican News Twitter account, with roughly 12,000 followers but sure to skyrocket following the Pope's tweet.

Vatican officials said that Benedict used his own finger to send the tweet on a touchpad

Almost Comatozing

And has got to be my favorite Uke video,For a taste of what's out there in the Uke World..

I saw this video and thought, "Wow, and that was their X-mas song.

I'm surprised one of those kids didn't scrawl "Help Me" on the back of their Uke."

"Stop me if you've heard this one", please.

An Australian television presenter attempted to tell a Dalai Lama joke to the man himself, but struggled to raise a smile.

Karl Stefanovic from the Today show had to have elements of the joke translated to the Tibetan leader, and the play on words were met with a blank stare until the Dalai Lama laughed at Mr Stefanovic's attempts to explain the humour.

Watch as the the joke backfires

Yuengling Light Contest Heats Up

The contest to see who can sell the most Yuengling Light Lager appears to heating up, these are just the results from yesterday afternoon, twenty seven pints, not bad. Chicken has jumped out to a commanding lead.

Sign Still Lost, But New Beer Found

The (Still) Missing Boca Chica Bar Sign

They say that when a door closes, a window opens up.
Well we at The Green Parrot felt that when a piece of memorobilia, a sign from a long-gone historical saloon went missing a door of Key West History had sort of closed up. Well, shortly after that loss, our sales representative from Yuengling Brewery, the nation's oldest, called on us to tell us that Yuengling was that very same week rolling out Yuengling Light, as a complement to their phenomonally popular Yuengling Lager.

The Yuengling rep said barrels were extremely limited and, perhaps feeling pity on us for our recent loss, offered us first dibs on the five barrels he had chilling in his warehouse.

We of course accepted and sales of the new light lager have been brisk , with customers old and new walking in the door daily seeking the newest addition to the historic brand.

"A historic brand for a historic bar".

Well, yes the sign is still missing, and yes we miss it, but from now on whenever we cry in our beer over that lost sign, you can be sure it's a Yeungling Light Lager .

Here's Mike, a visitor from Wenatchee Washington who, with his wife Ann were enjoying their first-ever Yuengling Light Lager, turned on to it by the bartender.

Halfway through his beer, Mike buttonholed me as I passe by on the way to my office., "Man, This beer is good. Say that name again. Where is this beer from?"

Mike was on vacation, chilling in The Green Parrot, obvviously enjoying his beer, enough so to snag a passerby, me, to offer his unsolicited reviw and to extol it's virtues. Mike, since he knew nothing of the sign was far from crying in his beer, and not wishing to bring him down, I didn't mention it.

If anybody sees that sign, could you please call me, I'll by you a beer, and you don't have to ask what kind.

Elvis slaps Ernest Hemingway LIVE at The Green parrot

Elvis/Hemingway Slapdown Reenactment

Here's our own Kenny providing the narrative to set up the scene between Elvis and Ernest. I was Kenney, you'll recal from a previous post who noticed the upcoming bicentennial and suggested the reenactment. Good job Kenny. It was also Kenney who, when we needed a narrator at the last minute, stepped into the breech to read the lines provided him.

KENNY: It is widely acknowledged that Ernest Hemingway was
one of the great literary minds of the twentieth century, and a boon to
tourism in our fair city, as well as to some of the cats that call it
home. He was also a man that embraced many of the qualities shared by
most patrons of this fine establishment. The love of fishing, of
womanizing, of drinking, and of course, the love of bullfighting. But
what may be less well reported is the persistent thread of sniveling that
runs through much of his body of work. For example:

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to
keep your mouth shut."
and
“all stories, if continued far enough, end in death”

It is with this in mind that we re-visit this faithful day
in 1957, as two juggernauts of the western world collide. All things are
as they were, except you are there!

ELVIS: Hey Ernie, I’ve been reading some of your stuff, and I think
you’re a better writer than a reader. What’s that sign over there say?
(gestures toward bar)

HEMINGWAY: No Sniveling?

ELVIS: (slaps Hemingway on the back of the head) That’s right, “No
Snivelin’. Now keep it in mind and lighten up! Thank ya’ very much.

The Plaque that inspired all this.

The boys pose in front of the plaque.

Ernie strikes a pose.

As does The King.

Just to be sure, Ernest checks the plaque one more time to be certain it's not him who gets to do the slapping.

Feeling fine after the slapping, Elvis pops a cold MGD.....

...and walks straight into the beginning of the Gay Pride Parade.

On to the next event.

The Green Parrot, your Center for Cross-Cultural Gender-Bending of All Kinds.

Parade watchers.

Durty Birdie Burlesque at The Green Parrot

It was another of those "oh-boy-they've-done-it-again" performances last night to when Key West Burlesque and The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn, two throwback troupes, combined forces to seemingly transform the Parrot as we know it into some sort of Gin Mill on The Bowery . The combination of Key West Burlesque's classic peep-show revue and the Viper's 1920's hot-jazz chestnuts created a speakeasy atmosphere that was intoxicating and irresitable.

In a place where we thought we'd seen it all, it was clear we had not.

More photos later, but let me tell you now it was one hell of a night.

The Dancers,

the music...

Unbelievable, purely entertaining.

Here's a few shots from our friend Tony Gregory

"We're like a library with a warning track or a bartender with reading recommendations"

Another reminder to follow Cabinet Beer Baseball Club:

"We're like a library with a warning track or a bartender with reading recommendations"

And check out their archives, great, great stuff.

The Best Baseball Story....Ever.

My thanks to Cabinet Beer Baseball Club for reminding me what day it is.

and I love how Cabinet Beer Baseball Club describes themselves:

"We're like a library with a warning track or a bartender with reading recommendations"

Green Parrot July Entertainment Calendar 2011

Friday, July 1st, Damon Fowler 5:30 PM “soundcheck”

Friday, July 1st, Damon Fowler, 10 PM show

Saturday, July 2nd, Damon Fowler, 5:30 PM “soundcheck”

Saturday, July 2nd, Suenalo, 10 PM show

Sunday, July 3rd, Bill Blue, 5:30 “soundcheck”

Sunday, July 3rd, Suenalo, 10 PM show

Tuesday, July 5th, 5:30 PM “soundcheck”, Erin Elkins & Ben Harrison

Friday, July 8th, Legendary J.C.'s 5:30 PM “soundcheck”

Friday, July 8th, Legendary J.C.'s, 10 PM show,

Saturday, July 9th, Legendary J.C.'s 10 PM show

Sunday, July 10th, Legendary J.C.'s 5:30 “soundcheck”

Friday, July 15th, 5:30 PM “soundcheck”TBA,10 PM show, Palo

Friday, July 15th,10 PM show, Palo

Saturday, July 16th,10 PM show, Palo

Sunday, July 17th, 5:30 “soundcheck”, Joey Dale and The Gigilos,

Friday, July 22nd, 5:30 PM “soundcheck”, TBA

Friday, July 22nd, 10 PM show, TBA

Saturday, July 23rd, 10 PM show, TBA

Sunday, July 24h, 5:30 “soundcheck”,TBA

Friday, July 29th, 5:30 PM “soundcheck”, TBA

Friday, July 29th, 10 PM show, Experimento

Saturday, July 30th, Experimento, 10 PM show

Sunday, July 31st, 5:30 “soundcheck”,TBA

Marlins' Streaker Has Nothing To Hide

When we first saw the video, and later learned the man in the video was not only a local but one of our good customers, I recalled having put a nice photo of him on the Green Parrot blog a few weeks earlier.
Not wanting to embarrass him any further by identifying him, I made the concious decision to not re-post the photo and further expose him (no pun intended).
.

The Streaker, pictured above

Looking in the Sunday Citizen I see how wrong I was in thinking he sought anonymity

'Running Bare' ends losing 'streak'

Key Wester makes waves for naked antics at Marlins game

"Hold my stuff. Watch this."

Those were the last words a Key West boat captain uttered to his friends before jumping the outfield wall at a May 18 Florida Marlins game, shedding his clothes and streaking into baseball history.

The episode ended with a misdemeanor trespassing charge for Mike Tilson -- and apparently ended the Chicago Cubs' losing streak, making Tilson, 27, a dubious hero in the Windy City.

"The Cubs have nicknamed me 'Running Bare,' " Tilson said Thursday. "I'm told the mayor of Chicago wants to give me a key to the city."

Other national television appearances could be in the works, Tilson said, adding that Tosh.0 has been in touch with his father.

Tilson was at Sun Life Stadium in Miami Gardens with about 40 Key West friends who had chartered a bus for the Marlins game.

"I do feel badly about that -- our whole group got thrown out of the game," he said, recalling the events leading up to his newfound fame.

See the entire Key West Citizen article here

Here's our boy, gazelle-like, on his recent outing to sample the American Pastime with some fellow Key Westers which could be more aptly titled "Take Them Off at The Ball Game"

The Dart Bar

Dash

Bill Davis, sans uke, doing what he does.

Not content to use a beer bottle...

Green Parrot First-Ever Uke Out

First-Ever Green Parrot Uke Out

I don't know what to say about Thursday night's Uke-Apocalypse except it was amazing.

I want to thank everyone who showed up whether young or old, amateur or professional, and either to listen or to participate. You made it happen. It was a perfect example of the Parrot being the venue but you guys being the heartbeat.

It was another reminder of how transcendent music can be.

Seeing all those smiling faces on that stage Thursday night I was reminded that there are few experiences that can compare with stepping into a circle of like-minded individuals, with a tuned instrument, and playing as one. The circle become like one organism.

Whether it's on a stage, in the parking lot of some bluegrass festival, or around the kitchen table, whether with friends, family, or strangers, (probably especially strangers), it's that circle and the seemingly primordial vibration of those strings that provides some kind of glue, some thread, that binds us all.

Being up on stage myself with all those people I was instantly transported back to a summer in San Francisco, forty years ago, in the kitchen of a house by the panhandle of Golden Gate Park, where on a nearly-nightly basis friends, sometimes only two or three, sometimes more, on some nights we spilled out of the kitchen and into the hall, would gather to play Irish music on guitar, mandolin, fiddle, autoharp, and whistle.

It was that exact same vibration of the strings-in-tune that pulled me back from the Parrot stage to that kitchen on Fell Street, pulled me back as surely as some smell from childhood or a photo of a buddy you'd thought you'd forgotten.

That's what happened to me Thursday night, and from the looks on some peoples faces I was not alone.

I love it when music can be the catalyst and when The Parrot can be the space.

I was also reminded of something else I discovered while doing a little research last week into the history of the Parrot. I knew that in the early years of the last century, The Green Parrot building was a grocery store owned by Antonio Sanchez, grandfather of folk artist Mario Sanchez. I discovered that Antonio was also a musician and in fact would invite other local musicians to drop by after the store had closed and, with rum and cigars, I'm sure, would hold "descargas", or cuban jam sessions in the back room of his store, often encouraging them to play late into the night. Remembering this on Thursday night, now that vibration, that thread, carried me many, many years past to that back room, that "descarga" and then brought me right back here to this room, this stage, this moment.

That said, I want to thank Bill Davis from Dash Rip Rock and local musician Tim McAlpine (is there anything he can't play?) for spear-heading this thing, and especially for running that Workshop before the show, to try to put this experience in reach of all who chose to participate.

Thanks to Tim Wegman for bringing so many ukes from his Caroline Street store to make sure that aybody who needed a Uke had one.

Thanks to Ashley and Gretchen who blew the room away and graced the room with what I believe was the first Gillian Welsh cover I've ever heard here, thanks for that treat.

And most of all, thanks to each and every one of you who got up on the stage,and put it all out there, and entertained us all. And thanks especially to each and every patron, all those who crowded the bar, hoisted a beer and encouraged those folks to get up there and bang out some tunes. I got your names, we know who you are now and we're gonna do it again.

Here's some photos from Thursday Night

"Oh Me-Oh-My Oh