Green Parrot Cultural Calendars

I put October up a few days ago and thought folks would like to see how the next few months are shaping up. It's a work in progress with a few TBA's and tenatives but you get the idea. We are always open for suggestions you know, so tell us who you've liked in the past at The Parrot or who you'd like to see. There are no Ukulele Nights in the calendars either but that's just because they are a kind of pop-up event. However, look for them to occur on the first week of the month, usually a Wenesday or Thursday, but they are for sure still happening.

November

Thursday, November 3rd,Tall Paul and Crawdaddy , 10 PM show

Friday, November 4th, Bill "The Sauce Boss" Wharton ,5:30 "soundcheck"and 10 PM show

Saturday,November 5th, Bill "The Sauce Boss" Wharton, 10 PM show

Sunday, November 6th, Bill "The Sauce Boss" Wharton, "Will Work for Gumbo Party" 5:30 P.M.

Thursday, November 10th, The Stooges Brass Band , 10PM show (tenative)

Friday, November 11th, TBA, 5:30 "soundcheck"

Friday,November 11th, Xperimento, 10 PM show

Saturday, November 12th, Xperimento, 10PM show

Sunday,November 13th,The London Souls, 5:30 "soundcheck"

Friday, November 18th, TBA,5:30 "soundcheck" and 10 PM show

Saturday,November 19th, TBA, 10 PM show

Sunday, November 20th,TBA, 5:30"soundcheck"

Friday, November 25th, Bryan Lee, 5:30 "soundcheck" and 10 PM show

Saturday, November 26th, Bryan Lee, 10 PM show

Sunday, November 27th, Bryan Lee, 5:30"soundcheck"

December

Thursday,December 1st, Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band, 10 PM show

Friday, December 2nd, Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band, 5:30 "soundcheck", 10 PM show

Saturday, December 3rd, Yo Mama's Big Fat Booty Band, 10 PM show

Sunday,December 4th, Watermelon Slim, 5:30 "soundcheck", 10 PM show (tenative)

Friday, December 9th, Damon Fowler, 5:30 "soundcheck", 10 PM show

Saturday, December 10th, Damon Fowler, 10 PM show

Sunday,December 11th, TBA 5:30 "soundcheck"

Friday, December 16th, Bobby Lee Rodgers, 5:30 "soundcheck", 10 PM show

Saturday, December 17th, Bobby Lee Rodgers, 10 PM show

Sunday,December 18th, TBA 5:30 "soundcheck"

Friday, December 23rd, The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn, 5:30 "soundcheck", 10 PM show

Saturday, December 24th, The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn, 10 PM show

Sunday,December 25th, The Blue Vipers of Brooklyn 5:30 "soundcheck"

Monday, December 26th, Spiritual Rez,10 PM show

Tuesday, December 27th, Spiritual Rez, 5:30 "soundcheck", 10 PM show

Wednesday, December 28th, Spiritual Rez, 5:30 "soundcheck", 10 PM show

Thursday, December 29th, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes,10 PM show

Friday, December 30th, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes,5:30 "soundcheck",10 PM show

Saturday,December 31st, Johnny Sketch and the Dirty Notes,5:30 "soundcheck",10 PM show

January

Sunday, January 1st TBA

Wednesday, January 4th, Donna the Buffalo, 10 PM show

Thursday, January 5th, Donna the Buffalo, 10 PM show

Friday, January 6th, TBA,5:30 "soundcheck" and 10 PM show

Saturday,January 7th, TBA, 10 PM show

Sunday, January 8th,TBA, 5:30"soundcheck"

Friday, January 13th, TBA,5:30 "soundcheck"

Friday, January 13th, SpamAllstars.10 PM show

Saturday,January 14th, SpamAllstars.10 PM show

Sunday, January 15th,Toubab Krewe, 5:30 "soundcheck". 10 PM show

Sunday, January 16th,Toubab Krewe. 10 PM show

Thursday, January 19th, Eric Lindell,10 PM show

Friday, January 20th, Eric Lindell, TBA,5:30 "soundcheck" and 10 PM show

Saturday,January 21st, Eric Lindell, 10 PM show

Sunday, January 22nd, Eric Lindell, 5:30 "soundcheck"

Tuesday, January 24th, Southern Hospitality, 10 PM show

Wednesday, January 25th, Southern Hospitality, 5:30 "soundcheck,10 PM show

Friday, January 27th, Entrain,5:30 "soundcheck" and 10 PM show

Saturday,January 21st, Entrain, 10 PM show

Sunday, January 22nd, Entrain, 5:30 "soundcheck"

February

Friday, February 3rd, TBA,5:30 "soundcheck" and 10 PM show

Saturday,February 4th, TBA, 10 PM show

Sunday, February 5th,TBA, 5:30"soundcheck"

Friday, February 10th, The Revivalists,5:30 "soundcheck" and 10 PM show

Saturday,February 11th, The Revivalists, 10 PM show

Sunday, February 12th,The Revivvalists, 5:30"soundcheck"

Friday, February 17th, TBA,5:30 "soundcheck"

Friday, February 17th, Suenalo,10 PM show

Saturday,February 18th, Suenalo,.10 PM show

Sunday, February 19th, Big Sandy and His Fly Right Boys, 5:30"soundcheck", 10 PM show (tenative)

Monday, February 20th, Big Sandy and His Fly Right Boys, 10 PM show

Friday, February 24th, TBA,5:30 "soundcheck"

Friday, February 24th, TBA10 PM show

Saturday,February 25th, TBA,.10 PM show

Murderer's Row: Green Parrot Style

When I looked at the October Entertainment Calendar today, even though I knew for months what was coming, I was blown away by what we had on deck.

It's Murderer's Row, but instead of Gehrig and Ruth it's Spiritual Rez and The Hot 8.

It's The Heavy Pets and The Lee Boys.

It's Eric Lindell and Entrain.

Then throw in Rockin' Jake, Motor City Josh, Amandala Tunesmith and Ukulele Night.

What I'm getting at is that if you plan on checking out the music at the parrot this month you'd better pack a lunch.

Here's the calendar and starting with Spiritual Rez, here's kind of a thumbnail of the acts coming up to whet your appetite:

Spiritual Rez: The Boston-based, Berklee-schooled, six-piece “reggae horn funk party” who’ve been capitalizing on positivity, smiling attitudes and never-ending tours and bring on the party like late-80s Red Hot Chili Peppers, Parliament Funkadelic and the Wailers combined.

The Hot 8 Brass Band: What I called "First-Rate Second-Liners" from New Orleans.

Be prepared when they bring their thunderous brass attack to the Parrot stage for two days of pure horn muscle on Sunday October 2, with shows at 5:30 and 10 p.m. and Monday, October 3, at 10 p.m.

Green Parrot Ukulele Association's Monthly "Uke Out":

What started as a test, turned into a lark and is becoming a movement.

The Lee Boys: massive-toned, tear-it-up versions of gospel standards,

The Lee Boys' "Sacred Steel" sound developed its roots in the House of God
church and is the hottest movement on the music scene these days.
Their church served as the foundation from which the Lee Boys
developed and perfected their style, talents, and skills. There are
six members who are brothers and nephews. Each member began making
music in the church when they were 7 or 8 years old, and they have not
stopped playing since.

Motor City Josh had Parrot fans swinging from the rafters at his

last Parrot show brings his
barn-burning, take-no-prisoners approach to Blues/Rock back to The Parrot
stage on

The Heavy Pets: I'll let other people say it: ""The Pets just might be a perfect jamband" says Dennis Cook, of Jambase.com

"...The greatest jamband to come out of Florida since, well, ever..." "They are an arena ready band without the arena. At its best the band is a living, breathing, force of nature-a whale." said Dan Sweeney of Relix Magazine

Rockin' Jake: Award-winnning NOLA harmonica player is a long-time Parrot favorite. "It ain't nothin' but a party!"

AmandalaTunesmith: 9-piece, blasting the bay area with their brand of African pop and soukous since 1992, fronted by Zakayo Mutsache, "The Hardest Working Kenyan in Show Business", a pastiche of rhumba, Cuban, and reggae-esque rhythms; Caribbean consonant color; and an Afro-beat instrumentation similar to much of Paul Simon’s album Graceland, Goombay weekend.

Entrain: The drum-driven World-Pop sensation from Martha's Vineyard, merging funk, rock, reggae, swamp and worldbeat rhythm into a sweaty good time make its long-awaited return to The Green Parrot.

Eric Lindell: California-born, New Orleans-schooled Eric Lindell Brings Blue-eyed Soul, Dive-Bar Credibility and Romping New Orleans R & B to The Parrot stage. Listed as one of the top acts to see a tNew Orleans Jazz festival, the New Orleans Times Picayune said "Lindell.…recalls Van Morrison in his more sublime moments of blue-eyed soul, blues and boogie…" not to be missed.

Potcheen: First-time appearance by these Pirate/ Celtic Rockers from Colorado. I'll be there.

Sol Driven Train: Charelston-based, Horn-Heavy Rock/Swamp Funk/World Beat

Loco por Juana Last Night

Locos por Juana,which roughly translates to ''Crazy About Jane'', delight in genre-crossing.

With members hailing from Colombia, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico, the band mixes Ska, Rock, Salsa, Jamaican Dancehall, Cumbia, Reggae, Hip-Hop, Funk and Electronica – sometimes in one song

Itaguey

Alex Zapata

Mark

Javier on Drums and Daniel on Congas

Diana Nyad and Buco's adventure

Here's a photo just taken showing our friend Buco, in the white kayak in the foreground, staying close by early this morning after what Diana's blog described as "a challenging night" that included multiple jellyfish stings.

Everyone here at The Green Parrot is pulling for you Diana!

And Buco, from all the Walter Mittys at The Parrot and The Courthouse Deli across the street:

"Atta Boy!

You can keep up with Diana's progress on her site Diana Nyad Extreme Dream .

It’s been a challenging night and morning. Diana recovered from the multiple Portuguese Man O’ War stings enough to swim – but she is struggling right now. Her usual stroke pace, between 52 and 55 strokes per minute, has dropped to 48, but she is able to swim. At 5:50am Diana stopped her freestyle stroke and complained that she couldn’t breathe properly, that she wasn’t getting oxygen to her muscles. Two doctors from the University of Miami sped out to the Voyager and administered a prednisone shot along with oxygen and other medications. Diana treaded water between 7am and 8am, and said she felt better, but still couldn’t get enough oxygen to her muscles.

Night turned into day as the dawn broke slowly on the horizon. “You’re doing better. I can see it,” said Bonnie Stoll, her chief handler. Diana’s regular feedings and hydration are continuing. Candace Hogan, who has been on most of Diana’s swims since 1978, says Diana can recover and complete this swim.

This was the latest from Diana's blog

Gaining Strength

Diana seems to be gaining strength. Her rest times per hour are less and less. At 10:55am, she just had a hydration and a full feeding, and her stroke is beginning to be stronger. Bonnie, Diana and the team are grateful for your support.

Encountering Extrordinary Animals

This afternoon – it is stunning to actually witness – Diana is swimming stronger and stronger. Her strokes are up to 50 per minute, she is eating pasta, gobbling bananas, bits of peanut butter sandwiches, along with high-carb & high calorie liquid concoctions. Bonnie Stoll has not left her side.

Conditions remain calm beyond expectations. Angie Sollinger, a crew member, said she has lived in the Caribbean for 27 years and has rarely witnessed this extensive period of the Doldrums.

Around 1pm – and don’t everybody get excited here – an Oceanic white tipped shark was spotted near Diana in the midst of the three boat flotilla. Diana is deeply committed to the safety of these extraordinary animals. It was a testament to the talents of her safety divers as they approached the shark. Rob MacDonald, one of the divers, swam towards the shark, where they faced off within 10 feet of one another. “I guess he thought I was more aggressive than him, and he turned in the other direction,” said MacDonald. Everyone else, it must be said, breathed a huge sigh of relief.

At 3:15pm today, Diana is now 35 statutory miles from Havana about one-third of the way to Florida.

A Willy The Burner Update

"Can you dig it Brother?"

Burner gives us the high sign!

Just got this email update for our dear friend, long-time patron and elder statesman, Willy the Burner.

Sounds like he's keeping his chin up and his powder dry.

When the expense of island living and lack of proper elder care facilities made his move to Homestead neccesary we were all heartbroken. But it seems every time we see him, or hear from him, he is the same old Burner: Expansive, grateful, humble and of course as Linda notes, always amazed and in wonder that despite all his road-tested miles, he is doing as well as he is.

Burner with Tommy Owens and Linda Cotten

"I didn't come here to make a Novena"

Here' Linda's email

Subject: Burner

Just to let you know about an old "tradesman" still alive and kicking - Burner (aka Bill Engh, Willie the Burner) celebrated his 84th Birthday Aug 10 and is still living in wonderment at the Palace Gardens in Homestead. He is amazed that he is doing as well as he is (could it be the lack of all of that "outside stimulus" that he loved so well?) and grateful to be there. If you're ever passing through Homestead, give him a visit - he's still got it going on!

Love to all at the Green Parrot!,
Linda Cotton

Burner and Helene

Though we would not call his life a fairy tale, it did sometimes seems like it was enchanted.

Start with him doing tours toward the end of WW II in these three branches: The Army,The Navy, and the Merchant Marine. Then there's his three marriages, all to women named Jane. Aptly refered to by Burner as Jane 1, Jane 2, and Jane 3.

How about him working on the construction of the Verazzano Narrows bridge, falling off into the water, and being the only worker known to survive such a fall, documented in the next day's New York tabloids ("Worker Fall from Bridge, Survives") with a photo of the bridge, a dotted line showing his downward route, with an X marking his point of impact.

Two construction workers (not Burner) on of the bridge in 1964-1972

All this, and God only knows what else, happened even before he pointed his 1969 Plymouth Satellite station wagon, (identical to the one in the Brady Bunch), in the direction of Key West in the late '70's and then in no particular order, but in rapid succession Burner:

earned his own stool at The Green Parrot,

developed a tight circle of eclectic, close friends,

and, finally to ease him into a glide path to his golden years, discovered psychedelics.

His new friends came from every social strata and occupation in Key West, perhaps a function of his affinity for the Parrot. They included cab drivers, bartenders,smugglers, strippers, and also the well-heeled, restauranteurs, bar-owners, writers and real estate types who, some newly-arrived and newly-invested in Key West placed his skills as a master carpenter in great demand during the day and then,as they recognized his openness, wit and natural charisma, whether it was over a drink or a mirror, just plain wanted to be around him, as we all did.

This pretty much brings us to his arrival in Key West and does not even touch on the thirty-plus years he spent here. Those stories are more made for a book instead of a blog.

For example, here's the punch line to one story: He's the only guy, to my knowledge. to ever discharge a firearm in the bar.

Burner on a recent visit

Sailor Jerry Airstream to Visit Parrot

Here's a shot from the last time the Sailor Jerry gang paid us a visit here at The Parrot. We're not sure what to expect when they show up this Friday night but we do know how they're getting here..

In this Sailor Jerry vintage airstream trailer

The Sailor Jerry Airstream Trailer will be stopping at Green Parrot, Friday, September 23rd between between 9:30 and 11:30, stop out to check out the trailer for a classic vintage experience, hang out with the Sailor Jerry girls,listen to Locos por Juana, and have some Awsome Sailor Jerry Rum Cocktails

 Miami's favorite Latin-Rock-cumbia mash-up band, Grammy-nominated Locos por Juana , will appear at The Green Parrot on Friday, Sept. 23, and Saturday,  Sept. 24, at 10 p.m.

Nominated in 2009 in the Grammy category of Best Latin Rock or Alternative album for their album La Verdad,Locos por Juana has finally gotten their due from the awards gods.

 Locos por Juana,which roughly translates to ''Crazy About Jane'', delight in genre-crossing. With members hailing from Colombia, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico, the band mixes Ska, Rock, Salsa, Jamaican Dancehall, Cumbia, Reggae, Hip-Hop, Funk and Electronica – sometimes in one song.

What makes their sound work is their wild energy; they hurl themselves into their music with such passion and excitement that they pull you along with them. Billboard Magazine tagged their album one of this year's Hot Picks.

With strong ties to Suenalo and the Spam Allstars, two other Miami groups well known to Parrot patrons for past steamy performances, Locos por Juana is something only Miami could cook up, creating a sound that reflects the diverse mixture of cultures and genres that Miami has to offer. The result is a highly
charged mix of rhythms irresistible to dancers.

Bingo for Frank The Cat

As you may or may not know, last night's Green Parrot Monday Night Bingo was held to help defray the medical expenses incurred when our own Frank The Cat was attacked by another cat in a savage and unprovoked attack. Frank is recovering nicely but those weekend visits to the vet did add up, as do Frank's prescriptions and in-home health care bills.

With their witty and urbane banter, Ron and Charlie of Conch Traders were the most dynamic of duos behind the microphones. With Dixie as their M.C. it was a fun night for all.

The Guest of Honor

Great Prizes

With lots of cat themes

Frank's actual no-scratch collar was one of the prizes

As well as some great other things

Frank says, "Whoever brought the fresh catnip, I love youe."

An intent crowd

Buco has his cards lined up.

Leo says,"Bingo!"

Frank also has a strong hand it appears

Time for Frank to call it a night.

Say Goodnight Frank.

Frank in his carrier, waiting for his ride. When out of nowhere, his brother Otis

"Frank, is that really you. Jesus, Frank, we thought you were dead!"

Thanks Ron and Charlie

Thanks to all the regulars

And, of course, Thanks to you-know-who.