The Hot Club

Becky, the Hot Club’s own, is pulling up stakes and moving to LA with her husband. Becky is an art teacher when she isn’t tending bar and her husband works for Whole Foods. We wish Becky and her husband the best of luck in their new adventure. It was pouring rain outside last Friday and it was coming into the Hot Club sideways. We were on the inside of the outside bar but still caught some spray. Charlie Clancy said it was getting ‘misty’. Suddenly Mike Module said, “I hope my sunroof is closed.” High Wire Bill asked me if Will Middlebrooks played another position. I told him shortstop in a pinch. Bill feels that the Red Sox may go the way of Bill Belichick and the Patriots and look for players with flexibility, versatility. Makes sense. Told Mike Module, Jesse, Mr. D. and Fleet Feet Pete about Stax/Volt artists Sam and Dave, who despite some great songs and a powerful act, did not get along. It got so bad that they would show up separately, required separate dressing rooms, and wouldn’t look at each other during performances. (plug in sam and dave and check out last.fm/music). One of Sam and Dave’s megahits was Hold On, I’m Comin’. The song was written by Isaac Hayes and David Porter. The story goes that Isaac Hayes had an idea for that song and yelled to Porter, who was in the bathroom. So Porter hollered back, “Hold on, man, I’m coming.” When the song was first released, the radio stations thought the title was too suggestive and got them to change it to Hold On, I’m A-Comin’. Fleet Feet Pete worked on a golf course as a grounds keeper. Pete and his co-workers had drained the course’s pond and cleaned it of clubs and golf balls. It was pouring rain so they hit a ton of the recovered balls toward a hole that was over a rise, and couldn’t be seen. Just then Pete’s uncle and his uncle’s big client played through only to find their balls mixed with about 300 others. And Pal Al says he once played golf in a six-some. They got in trouble for slow play. When players in the clubhouse ragged on them, Al pointed out that they played as a foursome and a twosome. They still didn’t like it. Al said “It’s a public course. It says ‘open to the public’.”

The Hot Club

There was talk about social networking. Five of us, Joe, Kosh, MC, Gary and I, realized that none of us had been on Facebook and we also didn’t tweet. No to networking! Charlie Clancy, Mike Module, Jimmy Chelo, Chet and I were talking about the height of Daisuke Matsuzaka. Charlie said he was 5’9”. I thought he was more like 6’1”, but they thought he was less than 6’ except Mike Module who said maybe 6’. Also, how tall is Pedro Martinez? It seemed to me that he was about 5’10’ but others thought he was shorter. I mentioned Pedro’s thin build as causing that perception. A check at baseball-reference.com shows Dice K as being 6’. Pedro is listed on the same site as 5’11” and 170 pounds. It turns out that the Hot Club’s Mr. Clancy is really John C. Clancy. But better known as Charlie. He showed me his license. Charlie said that his mother once told him he neededan alias. So we talked about people who use their middle names rather than their first names. It made me wonder “What, are they hiding from the law?” Fleet Feet Pete was chatting with Mike Module about golf. I told them what my coworker and friend Peter (Kieran Peter) used to say about golf: “A fine walk spoiled.” Jesse’s last name is Fordyce. That reminded me of Forsythe i.e. Bill Forsythe, the Scottish director, who did the underappreciated Local Hero. Mike Module remembered that Mark Knopfler did the theme song. I pointed out that he did the whole soundtrack. Fleet Feet Pete used his smart phone to find out that Mark Knopfler does not have any current gigs planned or scheduled but he will have a CD out soon called Privateering. It’s due out September 3. After that I’m sure that a tour will follow. Hot Club as Hotel California: Jay who worked at the Hi Hat visits. Misses ‘Uncle’ Larry. Dr. John, who knows his way around boats, told the tale of one Buddy Cianci, who with a hurricane approaching, wouldn’t let them close the hurricane barrier gates/doors until he and his boat were inside. And then the water rose and Buddy’s boat got pulled from its mooring and crashed up against the bridge. Buddy climbed off the boat onto the bridge.

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, Prov. The Red Sox were facing the Tigers and the TV showed their 1B Prince Fielder. I said he looked like he had eaten a couple human beings. Foot Joy said Prince is a better fielder than his father Cecil. I said Cecil ate himself out of a career and Prince, who must weigh about 270 pounds, will have to be careful he doesn’t do the same. A check here shows that Cecil played until age 35 (’85-’98) and hit 17 HRs his last year. Ubba…ubba. That reminded me of the AAA All-Star game at McCoy Stadium a few years back. The Orioles’ farm team had Calvin Pickering who outweighed present day Prince Fielder. I was commenting on Pickering eating himself out of the Majors when a woman behind me tapped me on the shoulder and informed me that she was Pickering’s wife. Ubba, ubba… There are some new/old pictures on the columns next to the dockside bar. One of them appears to have a view of Adam, the cook, and what looks like Mo. A woman with curls came in wearing very tall stiletto shoes. Frequent Flyer noticed that the price tag was still on the bottom of one of her shoes. I asked FF where the price tag was from, but Frequent Flyer said, “My eyes aren’t that good.” Overheard at the Hot Club: “Where is Citizen Caroline?” I pointed out that she is now known as Sovereign Caroline. Dapper David said he liked the Hot Club section of Sportzine the best. I told him, “That’s my albatross.” We were talking about My Sweet Lord when Mr. D. noted that George Harrison got to see his Lord a lot sooner than he probably wanted. That reminded me of the plagiarism suit that Harrison lost regarding that song and the Chiffons One Fine Day. It was actually the Chiffons’ He’s So Fine. Check out this site: http://abbeyrd.best.vwh.net/mysweet.htm Harrison was found guilty of ‘subconscious plagiarism’ and the judge ruled that $1,599,987 of the profits was attributable to the plagiarism. However Harrison’s ex-manager Allan Klein had bought the copyright of He’s So Fine in receivership from Bright Tunes. The judge ruled that Klein had given Bright Tunes financial information about My Sweet Lord (before the plagiarism case was decided), and did not deserve to profit. Instead the judge awarded Klein ‘only’ the $587,000 he paid for Bright Tunes. Sportzine is also available at jimdawsonsports.com (Thanks to Buffalo Steve)

The Hot Club

Recently Mike Dutra (the Voice of Frank Sinatra) stopped by the Hot Club. Mike used to sell franchises. I told him, “You’re the franchise now.” Bags told me that Mike Dutra’s old job selling franchises is known as a ‘business broker’. CJ overheard Fleet Feet Pete and Mike Module talking about their recent Hot Club band gig. CJ asked Pete and Mike: “Oh, that’s when you started dating?” Hooks told me that I erred with the Hot Club’s old corporate name. He said it was ‘Eat in or out’. So it happened that Josh Miller stopped by and I asked him. Josh confirmed that I had it right, it’s ‘Eat or out’. Josh also revealed that that corporate name still exists along with the new one – B&M Waterworks. ORric saw the Zine story about Dr. John and doctors being ‘Balkanized’, the white cell guys not talking to the red cell guys. ORric said he calls that a ‘Blood Brain Barrier’. He’s not sure what that is, but he’s on the ‘Brain’ side. As for the white cell guys not talking to the red cell guys, ORric said that obviously there is an infection going on. Talking with 5 Angels and Contraire about beers, 5 Angels asked me about a beer from Milwaukee and I recalled ‘Old Milwaukee’. Contraire didn’t want to give me any writing material. According to Contraire –“You always misquote everything.” He added, “Five Angels says you misquote everything.” No, that’s what Contraire says. Contraire apparently has stopped taking advantage of those poor people on the Hill. Contraire no longer takes money off of old men while playing gin at those Atwells Avenue social clubs. So we were trying to figure out why Contraire stopped gambling and playing cards. 5 Angels said it was because Contraire went to confession. That did it. Contraire said he’s become a Born-again Christian, but I’m not buying that. Mike Module was talking about having the fantasy of knocking over a row of motorcycles and then taking off on a scooter. That reminded me of the scene in the Clint Eastwood movie with the orangutan Clyde, who reached out and knocked over a row of motorcycles. Fleet Feet Pete remembered it was Every Which Way But Loose. We were talking about Curt ‘Stuff a bloody sock in his Mouth’ Schilling. Joking Joe said that Schilling’s next video game will be called Grand Theft Rhode Island. Joe ‘fessed up’ that he heard it on the radio. Sportzine is also available at jimdawsonsports.com (Thanks to Buffalo Steve)

The Hot Club

The Hot Club as Hotel California: Last Wednesday saw the return of Mike Dutra to the HC. The hardest working man in show biz does a great job singing the songbook of Frank Sinatra. If you close your eyes, you can hear the Chairman of the Board. Why were we so blessed? Mike had had a gig cancelled that night. It was 9 years ago that he performed in the backyard of Kosh’s condo at a party. Welcome back, Mike. Seems that Stephanie, Kosh’s condo neighbor, did hear Mike Dutra as Sinatra that day, as she overheard him through her window. Good Neighbor Stephanie said she wasn’t invited to the party. Stephanie said that she thought it was Sinatra too. The Hot Club is going upscale. They now have menus with Eat on one side and Drink on the other which made me think of the original corporate name of the HC – Eat or Out. They tell me it is now B&M Waterworks. Overheard at the Hot Club: “It’s better to be inducted than indicted.” A guy was walking on the deck. He had on a T-shirt that said, “Sean Larkin is driving me to drink”. Fleet Feet Pete has a solution for long baseball games: ban Velcro! These players spend too much time adjusting their batting gloves. An under 3-hour baseball game is a rarity. So I mentioned that last night Bobby Valentine used 3 relievers in a row to get 3 players out in the 7th inning (a 5-3 win over TB). You could hear Don Orsillo, unaware of an open mike, say: “What is this, the World Series?” Asked Dr. John if he knew another Hot Club regular who works in the OR of a local hospital. Turns out Dr. John did not know him, but explained to me that the medical profession has become ‘Balkanized’. Then Dr. John told me that there was a joke at Harvard that the red blood cell guys didn’t talk to the white blood cell guys. Dr. John told me that the medical profession has become so specialized that guys in training to be cardiologists were asked what chamber they wanted to concentrate on. R.I.P. Bradford Livingston who once was the Hot Club cook. Bradford married Paula Cournoyer, who tended bar at the HC, and they have a son Buckley. Bradford was only 35, way too early for anyone to die. Rest in peace, Bradford.