4/14/2014

April 7, 2014

Gee Julie and I were both at Rattlesnake Bar for an after-parade after-party for Greek independence day but no sign of any Greeks, just yuppies! But let me advertise the Rattlesnake Bar, had a carnitas plate and a $4 Pabst Blue Ribbon (Fug Heineken!) dropped off Gee Julie's "Kinky Boots" to Helen's Leather on Charles Street; if I had money, I'd buy the cowboy gear he has; once in Kenne-garden in North Carolina, I fell asleep on the Camp Lejeune bus and they asked me my name and i said "I'm the Rifleman!" Chuck Connors on TV, Bull Connor fightin' Civil Rights; a different tyme then! Tonight, Mr. MacCheep's Boston sez, the Greek Institute on Mass. Ave., a FREE lecture on the "Legacy of Medieval Byzantine Chant in Venetian Crete" which DOES sound Hopelessly Obscure!.....

April 8, 2014

Greek Institute 1038 Mass. Ave. free lecture on " Legacy of Medieval Byzantine Chant in Venetian Crete"; the PHD was a kantor, had two singers also. Miss Lyn needs to dig out the Gregorian Chants album! Reception: three classes of wine and three baklava; Xeni Highland at Large! Hot Topics: the Cretes in Venice, the Franks in Peloponese, the Rebetiko Trio that played Saturday, did I want to become a member (my Dad sailed to Greece, Med. cruise '59) and there's a lot of Greeks in Bari, Italia! (Sonic Daze and Mad Max!) there was a slide show of medieval scribes writing out church music; granted, my original Gizmos lead sheets are 40 years old and online, but dudes, this is TEN tymes that old! a culturally enlightening experience and a Griega lady name Helen (like my Ma, I got her gratis a postcard of some Byzantine church icons) DID say: "Franks, Germans, Vikings, whatever they were called (Celts too, thinks me!), it still doesnt take away from their brutishness" to which I stood tall, of course!......

April 9, 2014

every month at the Goethe Institute, there is a book club, in German, with chocolate cookies, held in the library (Green Eggs and Ham in Deutsch! Jah! Ich ist ein gross kinder!). Book; Das Bad by Yoko Tawaba, who appears there next week, things are free mostly, so answer ist jah! Why am I interested in Deutsch things? Family Tree DNA my Dad has a page full of matches with Germany; my great-great-grandmother McBee was a Youst; my great-grandmother Highland was ein Fischer. Also (rock related!) mein gut fruend Harry Vee covered "Rain of Death" in '80s; Harry ist der sanger von der Broken Jug (I actually can read them Kraut websites kinda gut; my college Deutsch was a C average). Harry sings this so totally Goth und Nico "rain of death/dark und vounded"...like the Stones suprassing Chuck Berry and the Byrds surpassing Dylan, everyone who Kovers Kenne, I gotta say they do it great! Angel Corpus Christi and "that's cool, I respect you More!".....:

April 10, 2014

ok, so I'm walkin' down Charles street and out of this gallery there comes noted Cambridge poet Mark Peterson! we head to French Cultural Center for a photo reception of Island of Re (it's off of Rochelle; my great-grandmother Highland has a Benoit Huguenot ancestor lived in New Rochelle, NY, so more deja vu for me)...Mark Peterson wearing sneakers and a 3-piece suit and messy hair: Professor Irwin Corey! Me and him tryin' to figger out what the "complimen-terry French wine was"; like the 3 Stooges in kilts at that high-class soiree havin' a food fight! oh, yeah food: some kinda hot orange dip (curry), fromage, crackers, grapes....after i closed the joint down, walked to Arlington station and Rockin' George Leh was singin' "under the boardwalk"! I joined in with the 12x5 Stones version BUT did say "The Drifters!"; told him i knew Lauren McGrath (Gravendancers cd/cigarette gurl) whom had told me Rockin' George's birthday is....April 2! we exchanged birthday greetings and i left posh Back Bay for white-trash Quincy, the Prince and the Pauper meets "hey-hey Cinderella!".....

April 11, 2014

ok, so a Gizmo walks into the Cantab; sittin' at the bar is Laughing Horse, drinkin' beer AND wine; he motions me to sit (oh no! drinkin' with the Indians!) but to my rescue comes Little Hawk aka Peter Goutzos, Vinny Band/Gyro Lula,whom I DID promise a good live review, but I AM prejudiced. Besides, no need of getting Miss Lyn on warpath (her Indian grandmother threw a coffee mug against the wall one tyme, family lore, I've heard/noted it all) (she threw it at my mother's head but it missed her- ed) .....but Let the Music Do the Talkin'! of course Gyro Lula was their usual majestic self, a lotta Chuck Berry via Dave Edmunds "that's cool:-sounding progressions; Blowfish should note his vintage Gretsch with reverb. I also made sure Micky Bliss knew he had Cantone's vets with Peter from Vinny Band and John Cagnina, bass, from Tony and the Mechanics. followed by Garage Dogs who had an O. Rex meets Afrika Korps 19 nov 77 Cantone's feel, "I wanna be your dog" shirtless singer evoking Stiv Bators-ism and a Ramones-y "da doo ron ron" which they learnt from Sean Cassidy. pretty full house here. AND their bassist was with my ole high school buddy John Pusateri who left Rochester NY area in '80s via Rochester band New Math and ended up knowing Lou Miami/Thalia Zedek; besides being in printin' class (for my fanzine!) with Alan Baase (RIP) he knew a 155 pound 16 year Ken Highland! (pre-O.Rex!) Good to see him again. Harlequin covered Mott the Hoople's "Sucker" and Who's version of "shakin' all over"; closer "Boogie woogie ghoulies" has same chord progression as Gruberger Brothers "rock-n-roll is better than music"....

my set, with Triple Thick in audience and got a Triple Thick cd; Gravedancers were my backup band, alice cooper's "ballad of dwight frye", Dolls version of "Pills", Live at Leeds version of "summertime blues", Zep's take on "you shook me"; Micky Bliss on trumpet for "green onions"/"help Me" and "under my wheels" as closer; blues and classic rock, what I do best. "Looking tired and a little burnt" (Dave Mason review in Beyond our control 1974), I think I'll lissen to WRCA and Tube talk and that show with the ole 78s tonight; I been too much at large".....

"Radio On! "I got the AM"....Rockin' at night WRCA 1330 AM Peter Sheinfeld played a Buchannon without Goodman 78, or so I kinda thought "Behind the Wall of Sleep" followed by The Rainbows from 1953! (never heard it, my parents met that year and it was wicked good!) Coast to Coast AM WRKO 680 am talked about alien abductions...all worthwhile AM radio for when I wake up every couple hours!"....

April 13, 2014

since I AM distant cuzzins to Mark Farner, I stayed "Closer to Home" and walked couple blocks down the hill to Granite Street Cafe, Quincy, Albanian owned like Vlora on Boylston street. It was Albanian music night; let me praise the $20 lamb and feta entree and $4 Blue Moon beer (and why the hell do I review music for? I should be the Phantom Gourmand!) ok, so I seen pictures of the 8pm-1am doin's here and looks like a yasou "seem-a-ler" to Greek hoedown (speaking of, a plug for Harry Z of Popgun and the Grapevine restaurant Salem; the food is Greek (can i spell Zarkadis? sorry, dude!) but Harry, rabid Jumper Cables fan, WILL book the Smithereens and Barrance in his club!) ok, so I turnt 'round the corner and was glad to see somebody else loading in! and it was the Albanian ensemble. Keyboard/drum machine; clarinet/vocals and guitar/oud, i reckon. Blowfish and Kenneth Kaiser would LOVE the heavily reverbed surf sounding Fender (maybe), a lotta single-string Yardbirds scales, echoes of Les Variations and I went home humming a I-II-III/III-II-I riff in F# which mixed :mister you're a better man than I" with Sabbath's "N.I.B.". They have the Albanian music once a month but I'm also on a "meetup" list so I think there's Albanian music at Vlora in two weeks, though at the Goethe Institute the next couple Saturdays is Turkish music! and i MUST ask Ma where Dad was on his Mediterranean cruise, wearing a fez and petting a Camel!.....