The Hot Club

THE HOT CLUB

WHERE HEARTS ARE ON FIRE
BUT IT’S NEVER TOO HOT

FOR THE DEVIL MAY CARE

575 South Water Street

Providence, RI



Fleet Feet Pete made the mistake of saying that the Yankees generally had not overpaid for their talent. After an assault of derisive cries from Wise, Foot Joy, and me, Fleet Feet tried to call Timeout! No can do! No Timeout! Fleet Feet then adjusted it to ‘the Yankees make fewer mistakes when they overpay’. Nah!



The Wizard played Savoy Brown’s rendition of Tell Mama on the Hot Club jukebox. I said “That’s the Etta James song.” Told Wiz it was a big hit for her and I saw Etta do it at a USO Tour in Turkey. So Wiz checked on his phone and found out that Clarence Carter wrote the song and Etta James recorded it. Billboard’s Top 40 Hits shows that the song debuted December 30, 1967. It made it to #23. Etta was discovered by Johnny Otis.



So in talking about music, Buffalo Steve recalled Ring, Ring, Telephone Ring (Rings). Steve said Lobo did it but Cymarron had it first (1971 per Billboard). I told BS that I have a greatest hits CD by Minnesota’s legendary 12-stringer, Leo Kottke, who does it.



Asked Charlie Clancy if he remembered walking through the snow to the Civic Center to see PC play basketball just after the Blizzard of ’78. Ah yes. Charlie recalled it was against North Carolina. Rich said he was tending bar at Martinque’s, a place across the street from Mike Solomon’s Wes’ Rib House.



We were talking about the Herbster’s golf machine, a wooden contraption that tees up the ball for the practicing golfer. Buffalo Steve thought that newer machines do it better. Mike Module said that Herb’s machine is going to the Smithsonian Museum.



Charlie Clancy asked me when the last time it was 0 degrees at noontime in Providence, Rhode Island. Not wind chill. Zero degrees. I asked, “Are we talking Centigrade or Fahrenheit?’ Charlie, after a fashion, said Fahrenheit scale. “How many Kelvins is that?” asked Buffalo Steve. So when was the last time? Charlie said, “Your job. Look it up.”



Handed the Jack of Fire a copy of Sportzine. He asked me if he was in it. “No”, I said. The Jack of Fire asked, “Why should I read this when I’m not in it?” Little did Jack know that Mr. Contraire had once uttered almost the same words.



Mike Module brought in a couple chestnuts on shoelaces. Chestnuts. Chestnuts roasting on an open fire. I can sense a new nickname for Mike Module. Yes, we played ‘Kingers’ with chestnuts. If you broke the opponent’s chestnut, you got all his wins on top of yours.

The Hot Club

Chet, Jimmy Chelo’s friend, brought up the name Marcus Dupree to me. Chet saw an ESPN special called ‘The Greatest That Never Was’, and noted Dupree set a Fiesta Bowl rushing record (239 yards on 17 carries vs. Ariz. St.). I remember Dupree as a running back out of Oklahoma. A Google check shows that Dupree signed with the USFL and wrecked his knee. He played a little for the LA Rams but retired because of his knee.



Jimmy Chelo told me that Jim Brown never wore hip pads.



Jimmy said he played high school football (East High) for local legend Alex Nahigian. Jimmy wasn’t in the game but his fans kept calling for him to be put in with chants of “We want Chelo!” So the coach called Jimmy over and pointed up into the stands and said, “Chelo, go up there. Your fans want you.”



Asked Wiz how he was doing and he said, “Good.” I added, “Can I quote you on that?” Wiz said, “Yeah but you won’t get it right.”



The next time I saw Wiz, he called me “Mr. Misquote”.



Fleet Feet Pete told me to check out the website Pandora.com which rates current music (thumbs up, thumbs down) and plays various songs.



Told Mike Module, Fleet Feet, Wise and Wiz about Neil Young’s warehouse burning down. It contained guitars and vintage autos. The fire apparently started with Neil’s ’59 Lincoln Continental that Young was trying to turn into an electric car. Only Neil.



We were talking about music and I told Bags, Wise and Wiz that I came across an unusual and chilling fact – Al ‘Blind Owl’ Wilson of Canned Heat died 9/3/70. Jimi Hendrix passed away 9/18/70. Janis Joplin died 10/4/70. So they all passed from this mortal coil within about a month of each other. They were all just 27 years old.



A club on The Hill got raided. Again. Both times, local legend Contraire was not there when the bust went down. Quizzed about this, Contraire said, “And I won’t be there the next time they get raided.”



Congrats to Kelley who is Miss September in the Narragansett Beer dance girls’ calendar.