A Recap:"I'm Either Gonna Be In The Blog or in The Red Book" or "The Hardest Working Plumber in Show Business"

While is may seem that these pictures of Kenny the Plumber's Parrot debut defy description, they do deserve some sort of coda.
Well, here's how I remember it: one minute he was sitting at the bar with the rest of the crew, next he was casually leaning over the counter in front of the stage conferring with Nick Moss, and sudddenly he was on stage, a Full-Fledged Flip Top, tossing that mike around like he was born with it, alternately purring or growling into it as the spirit moved.
It was his show, undeniably, it was his stage, and the crowd, as they say, went wild.
Crooner? "Hell, no...I'm a plumber".

Larry's Birthday

Larry Niemec chose to celebrate his natal anniversary in the Parrot with friends and we might add he never looked better. His better half, in the background, seems vastly entertained by the scene. Happy Birthday man!

SpongeMan

This one certainly needs a a little set up.
When I first looked out the front door of the parrot I saw my old friend Greg, of the Key West Aquarium, at the wheel of a pick up stopped at the light. As I approached the truck to say hello to Greg my gaze fell on the bed of the truck and it's macabre cargo.
None other than The SpongeMan, a larger than life creation made entirely of Key West Sponges that resembled nothing if not James Arness in his film role as The Thing in the 1954 Horror Classic of the same name.
I had first seen SpongeMan some thirty years earlier displayed in the window of a Key West Printing company (why I have no clue) on the corner of Simonton and Fleming Streets where the Duck and Dolphin antique shop is today.
Although this never happened to me personally, I had the heard stories of some hapless souls who, back in the seventies, while under the influence of various psychedelia and while caught unawares, had paused inadvertantly at this window and as their gaze drifted upward and fixed on this seemingly soulless yet extremely absorbent creature, they would freeze in terror, and once they regained some form of locomotion, they hauled their sorry-assed hippie bones back to their madras print-curtained, candle-lit, ratty apartments before, they feared, they would disappear down the rabbit hole altogether.
Where he'd been since I'm not quite sure. In Ed Swift's attic perhaps. Greg said he was to be given a tune-up at some undisclosed location, but it just goes to show you never know what you'll run into when you step out of the relative safety of the parrot. As Martin Sheen once wisely said, "Don't get off the boat"

Lennie Jones' Voodoo Hammock Gallery at The Green Parrot

Squirelly Regulars from Corvallis

Sean and Kelly from Corvallis, Oregon in their favorite seats in their favorite bar east of the Mississippi listen to Duwayne Burnside and The Mississippi Mafia on Saturday.

Duwayne Burnside and Co.

Jurassic Beaver Found, Find Stuns Experts

With our own Beaver, known for stunning experts with his own cunning stunts, returning just last night from the Olympics I thought this recent National Geographic story noteworthy.

Jurassic "Beaver" Found; Rewrites History of Mammal

A beaverlike tail, seal-esque teeth, and positively platypus-ian ankle spurs make Castorocauda lutrasimilis one original animal, as shown in this artist's conception.
The semiaquatic mammal ancestor lived about 164 million years ago. Until its recent discovery, Jurassic-period mammals were thought to be only small, shrew-like land dwellers.
Despite similarities with some modern animals, the Jurassic mammal has no modern descendants and is not related to any existing species. The discoverers have given it the name Castorocauda lutrasimilis, Latin for beaver tail and similarity to the otter.

Stranded in Amsterdam

Why is this guy smiling?
Word was recieved today from Moose and Beaver, our two globe-hopping, olympic-watching bartenders , that they had missed a connection and would not be home as soon as planned and as a matter of fact were stranded in Amsterdam.
Sympathy for them, as was to be expected, was in low supply.

Former North Mississippi All Star Duwayne Burnside to Appear this Fri-Sat

Former North Mississippi All Star Duwayne Burnside at
Green Parrot
Former North Mississippi All star Duwayne Burnside with his band The
Mississippi Mafia will make their Key West and Green Parrot debut this
Friday and Saturday, February 24th and 25th beginning at 10 pm with a 5 PM Saturday Matinee.
Duwayne was born in Senotobia, Mississippi and grew up hearing his
father, R.L. Burnside, as well as neighbors play guitar-driven
Mississippi hill country blues. He was playing the guitar before he
was old enough to hold it himself.
Growing up, he played guitar behind his father, and backing up local
club owner Junior Kimbrough and The Soul Blues Boys. And with Memphis
being as close as it was, Duwayne began playing and sitting in with
seasoned and well known musicians that frequented town, such as Little
Jimmy King, Albert King, B.B. King, Bobby Blues Bland, and others.
Duwayne was also playing in R.L. Burnside's family band Sound Machine
Groove, which combined the hill country sound with the soul and R & B
that was pouring out of Memphis at the time. Between the two styles
and his growing experience, Duwayne became an outstanding rhythm
player with the ability to blend with all styles of music and any
musician. While playing rhythm Duwayne was also paying attention to
all other parts being played, and stepped up to fit in anywhere he was
needed whether is was drums bass or guitar. Duwayne leads began to
undeniably become fused with Albert King and the heavy soul feel that
came from earlier playing experiences.
Duwayne recorded some with his father on High Tone and Fat Possum
records before moving to Memphis to open his own club, Burnside
Kitchen and Grill near Highway 61. He booked the shows, cooked the
food, sold the beer and played weekly.
In 1998, Duwayne traveled to Los Angeles to record his first full
length record as Duwayne Burnside and The Mississippi Mafia. In 2001
Duwayne sat in with the North Mississippi All Stars, It was the
missing link of sorts. His rhythm and leads were so perfectly played
and placed that one could have never known that it was his first show
with the band. From then on he toured 250 days a years with the band
and recorded with The All Stars on their next record.
In 2004 Duwayne felt the nee4d to pull in on the reins and settle
back at home, forming a new band with a few old friends. The result is
a heavy continuation of hill country and soul blues fusion that makes
you thankful this music is still being made. And this weekend at the
Green Parrot, you'll be thankful too.
The Green Parrot Bar is your Southernmost Center for Blues
Culture at the corner of Whitehead and Southard Streets. For
additional information call The Green Parrot at 294-6133 .

Juggernaut's Matinee

Yes, There Is a Real Jug Involved.

The Juggernaut Jug Band from Louisville, Kentucky drags what appears to be a hardware store on stage with them.
"It Slices... Dices... Mounds of Cole Slaw!"

Tonight & Tomnorrow with a Tuesday Matinee

Juggernaut Jug Band at Green Parrot
"…they don't let their virtuosity get in the way of having fun."

-Washington Post
With their zany showmanship and straw-hat schtick and
promising "to make as much music as any four humans can", The
Juggernaut Jug Band will take the stage at The Green Parrot Bar, on
Monday and Tuesday, February 20 and 21 beginning at 9 o'clock with a
special 5 PM sound check on Tuesday.
For the Juggernaut Jug Band each performance is a challenge to the
audience to have as much fun as the band.
The Louisville, Kentucky-based group has been together for
more than 30 years and infuse every show with sparkling musicianship
and a wacko sense of humor.
The JJB serves up eclectic sets of old-fashioned, back porch
music that includes everything from a lazy version of the Doors'
"People Are Strange" and a Led Zeppelin medley to a lively "Don't Get
Around Much Anymore and a loping, deranged take on the Who's "Pinball
Wizard." It's weird, wonderful stuff!
The genre gets its name from the stoneware jug that's used to
blow the bass line. This pivotal piece unites a wide and innovative
array of instruments-including washboard, fiddle. harmonica, trumpet,
kazoo, guitar, washtub bass, mandolin, dobro and banjo. Founding
member of the JJB Roscoe Goose jokes, "that every time the group sets
up its equipment somewhere, the place looks more like a hardware
store than a musical venue."
Please take note that an actual jug will be played at your
Southernmost Center for Jugband Culture, The Green Parrot Bar. For
additional information call 294-6133.
# # # #

Sniveling Origins Uncovered in Italy

The following is part of an e mail I recieved from the artist Greg Sobran, who has serendipitously uncovered some backround on snivelers while doing some reading on Renaissance Italy. The exerpt reads:
" By the way, I've dug up the "no sniveling" origins from 15th
century Italy. This is from Ross Kings recent book on Michelangelo.
It seems this early reformer, sort of a fundamentalist sort name
Savonarola, was preaching a pessimistic fire and brimstone sermon and
got the partying folk in Florence kind of bummed-out. His followers
got the nickname Piagnoni, or "Snivelers". He encouraged followers
to burn their mirrors, paintings, perfumes, musical instruments,
fancy clothing, etc. in his "Bonfire of Vanities". He doesn't
exactly sound like the life of the party. Anyhow, the populous
seems to have tired of him after a while and he ended up in one of
his bonfires before having his ashes tossed into the Tiber. Scratch
one sniveler."
~Greg
Gregory Sobran
The image above is of Savonarola, Girolamo (1452-1498), one of the Piagnoni, or snivelers. My name being Vagnoni, of course the Piagnoni moniker struck a chord. Am I a descendant of some centuries-old snivelers? Yikes

My Walk Home