Meeting Of The Minds: Sunday, November 6th - The Last Waltz

We had originally planned to fly back to Atlanta on Sunday, but were told by several MOTM veterans that we should stay to catch Sunny Jim's songwriters showcase at Blue Heaven. So, we made some last minute adjustments - which included having to move hotels - and stayed another day. And we were very glad we did. Getting reports that Blue Heaven was packed to the gills for brunch, we decided to wait a few hours before going and, instead, headed to the Smokin' Tuna Saloon, Scott Kirby's new place just off Duval (you can read more about it in my earlier interview with Scott here on BB&B). The place was also pretty packed but we ran into our new friends, Jimbo, Tracy, and Brett again, who were getting ready to leave and offered us their table, where we sat and watched Howard Livingston and, then, John Frinzi with special guest, Doyle Grisham.

The Tuna is one of our new favorite places in Key West, with plenty of room, a cozy feeling despite being largely outdoors, and good food - the Smokin' Tuna Dip and peel & eat  local shrimp were especially tasty. One funny note: After turning down my first couple of beer requests, saying they were out of stock, the bartender shrugged and by apologized, saying "This is our first Parrot Head convention. We just weren't ready!"

We hated having to give up our much coveted table, but we wanted to catch at least some of the acts at Sunny Jim's showcase, so we closed out and walked up Whitehead Street. By the time we got there, the brunch crowd had subsided and, although there was still a good sized audience enjoying the music, there were plenty of places from which to watch the show.

If you've never been to Blue Heaven it's REALLY an outdoor venue. Unlike Smokin' Tuna, where there are at least some covered areas where you can go when the weather doesn't cooperate, there is no such shelter at Blue Heaven. Luckily, it was a beautiful Fall afternoon so being outdoors was exactly where we wanted to be. especially given the caliber of entertainment. Another interesting feature of Blue Heaven is that the "stage" is about ten feet up in the air, surrounding an old water tower. So, to see the performers, you have to look up. The advantage is that, unless you were to maybe get behind a group of NBA centers, you never have to worry about people blocking your view.

We caught Tall Paul, Latitude, Rob Mehl and several others before heading back to the Smokin' Tuna to see Kelly McGuire and Scott Kirby. On the way, we stopped by the Green Parrot, where the Sauce Boss was rocking the house while mixing up a pot of Gumbo.

Back at the Tuna, we found the place to be even busier than before. Apparently, even though the convention was officially over, lots of folks had the same idea we did and had decided to stay another day. Georgia eagle-eyed a group with young children sitting at the very same table we left a couple hours earlier ("They can't stay long, they have kids") and this time we were able to repay the favor by inviting Brett and his buddies from the Ft. Meyers area PHC to come sit with us.

Kelly and Scott are two of my favorite Trop Rock artists, and the chance to seem them play together was a real treat. They were joined by Mike Aiken and the three took turns performing their own songs. And that was just the "appetizer" for the main event, Scott Kirby and guitarist Dave Edmisten (along with a fiddle player whose name I didn't catch). Together, they ran through some of Kirby's catalog, including one of my favorite all time Trop Rock songs, "Lucky Enough". The line "I'll raise my glass, you can kiss my old ass...I'll die with my feet in the sand" will probably wind up on alot of Parrot Head tombstones.

A full day of music, wrapping up a long but thoroughly enjoyable convention, but it wasn't over yet. The last hurrah was the "No Plane On Sunday" party featuring Jim Morris & The Big Bamboo Band at Schooner Wharf. Morris had the crowd singing along to every song, mixing his own originals with rowdy covers, like Jerry Jeff Walker's "Up Against The Wall You Redneck Mothers". Wiped out but grinning ear to ear, we called it a night - and a week. On the way back to our hotel, Georgia turned to me and said, "As soon as we get home, we're registering for next year."

Meeting Of The Minds: Saturday

Saturday, November 5th - Normally, Green World Gallery on Duval Street - owned by trop rock fan "Koz" Koslowski and his wife, Pam Campbell - sells locally produced art. During Meeting of the Minds, it also became a live music venue, hosting a number of trop rockers. We started the day by stopping in to say hi to Loren Davidson - and staying to hear the always entertaining Bob Karwin.

The next stop was one of my personal favorites of the whole week... We'd been wanting to make it by the Lighthouse Court to catch Kelly McGuire's songwriters' showcase since we arrived on island, but this was our first chance to actually get there. Next year it will be one of our first stops. Cozy surroundings and some of the top names in Trop Rock (on this afternoon Jack Mosely, Mark Mulligan, Hugo Duarte, and Mike Aiken joined Kelly) and an audience that was there to LISTEN, something we didn't find at every venue. Case in point: When Kelly performed "Daddies And Daughters" from his latest cd, King Of The Island, it was hard to find a dry eye in the place. Before leaving, I stopped to chat with an old friend, local trop rocker "Key West" Chris Rehm, who was hanging out waiting his turn to get up and perform.

With the sun scheduled to set in just a few minutes, we jumped on our bikes and pedaled quickly down to Mallory Square for one of our favorite Key West traditions, the Sunset Celebration. Watching that big yellow ball drop into the water, signalling the end of another day, never gets old.

Sun down, we headed back across the island to the Casa Marina beach side stage for the scheduled Coral Reefer Band show, arriving just in time to catch the tail end of a high energy set from Jimmy & The Parrots. The place was packed, thanks partly to rumors floating around that Jimmy might show up and play with the CRB (the original plan, apparently, had been for this to be JB's "surprise" visit, but it got changed at the last minute to Friday on Duval). On their own, the Coral Reefers put on a great show, taking turns performing material from all of their solo efforts; Club Trini, Peter, Nadirah, Mac, etc. The only disappointment was that Doyle Grisham wasn't given a chance to showcase anything from one of his albums...

Show over, on a normal Saturday night it might be time to call it a day and grab some much needed sleep. But, this was Meeting Of The Minds and there was still music to be heard. So, we cruised back to Old Town and headed to Schooner Wharf for the last of Homemade Wine's set. They had the place rocking with some Southern Rock covers. Not very "Trop" but the crowd didn't seem to care. Auxiliary entertainment was provided by the bar backs/security, who were having some fun tossing out a few unruly patrons. Having spent a few years owning and running bars, I was able to share some "been there-done that" stories with them.

I mentioned this in an earlier blog post, but there are two things you grab when you can at MOTM - sleep and food. Having run around catching one act after another most of the day, we found ourselves sitting at Schooner Wharf hungry at 1am. Thank fully, Malcolm - one of the bar backs we had been talking to - told us about an Irish bar called Finnegan's Wake that was close by and served late. We got there just in time to catch last call from the kitchen and took Malcolm up on his suggestion of the "killer" bacon wrapped Meat Loaf. Served with mashed potatoes, it was the perfect comfort food after a day spent pedaling around the island.

More From Meeting of The Minds

Highlights from Friday, November 4th

I received an email the night before from Steve Tolliver of the Trop Rock Junkies, inviting Georgia and me to a breakfast and jam session at the United Street cabins where he and his wife were staying. The hour was a little early, 9am, but a chance to see Steve and some friends play pool side on a beautiful Key West morning made it worth the earlier than usual wake up call. We arrived to find a nice spread of food and pitchers of daiquiris ready and waiting. Pulling up a couple of chairs, we chatted up some of the other invited guests, including Kelly McGuire's "Gal Friday", Sandy Drobiarz-Records, and Fred and Sara Guerrero, owners of  Isla Bella, nominated for Trop Rock Award House Concert Venue of the Year, while the musicians tuned up. Steve played some of his originals, including one of my personal favorites, "Sand In Her Shoes", and guitar-picked along with other musicians, including Trop Rock Award nominees (for Duo of The Year), Steve Johnson and Jimmy Johns, better known as Southbound.

Next stop was Duval Street for the start of the Margaritaville Street Party. We got there in time to catch the Young Rebel Goombas. The Goombas, from my old stomping grounds of Long Island, New York, got the crowd dancing with their upbeat blend of reggae, rock and ska. When they finished their set, we walked right door to La Concha to hear Brent Burns.

Walking back to our hotel to get ready for the worst kept secret on the island: Jimmy Buffett's "surprise" appearance at the Street Party - we caught a few minutes of the Sauce Boss, who was holding court at the Green Parrot.

We also ran into our new friends from the Southwest Florida Parrot Head Club; Jimbo, Tracy, and Brett. Making new, long lasting friends is an important part of MOTM and we wound up sharing many laughs - and more than a few adult beverages - with these three.

Heading back to Duval, area balconies were full and the streets overflowing, but we managed to make our way to a great spot on the side of the stage. Meeting Of The Minds, although it has evolved into a celebration of Trop Rock in general, began as a gathering of Buffett fan club members. There is Buffett music, Buffett t-shirts, and plenty of everything Buffett sings about - beaches, boats and bars. The only thing that is usually missing is Buffett himself. Not on this day. Jimmy played for almost an hour, backed by the full Coral Reefer band.

The event was originally supposed to be Mac McAnally's cd release party. That got pushed aside by Jimmy's visit, but Mac did get to play some of his own songs the next night at the Casa Marina. More on that later...

The finale of the night was the Trop Rock Music Awards back at the host hotel. Attendance seemed a little disappointing - there were, supposedly, 3500 convention attendees, but it looked like barely a third were there to see the awards being handed out. It could have been the chilly night air, or just too many other things goiing on back on the other side of town. Still, the show was fairly fast paced, speachers were short and gracious and the music in between award categories was entertaining (personal favorite was Paul Roush performing "I Wanna Be Howie" joined on stage by Brent Burns and the song's inspiration, Howard Livingston). Great job by the Margarita Mafia (which used the evening to announce they were changing the organization's name to the Trop Rock Association) and congrats to all the winners.

Meeting of the Minds: Like a Kid In A Candy Store

I mentioned in a previous post that I had promised to be diligent about blogging while here in Key West for the annual Parrot Head/Trop Rock convention called Meeting Of The Minds. The problem has been that blogging takes time. And, if you want to catch even half the artists performing on the island during the convention, while simultaneously trying to see some of the sights of Key West - like the sunset celebration on Mallory Square - maybe squeeze in a little shopping, time is in short supply....Oh, and there is that minor human requirement: food. Hear some music, tour the Hemingway House, grab a quick meal or two and next thing you know four or five days have flown by. Having been in Key West a number of times before, and as someone who can easily afford to skip a meal or two, our main focus this week was on the music. We tried to catch as much of it as we could, in as many places as we could. Here are some of the highlights:

Thursday.....


John Friday, Rum Barrel; Trop Rockers are a pretty magnanimous and supportive bunch and are usually happy to invite other performers up to do their own material. We saw it over and over again all week long. This late afternoon show on the upper deck of the Front Street bar was a revolving stage of songwriters and guitar pickers, hosted and otherwise held together by John Friday and enjoyed by a number of smiling Parrot Heads from around the country.

In between acts, I sampled a flight of top shelf Rums and, for my efforts, was awarded a "Baccalaureate of Cocktailology" from Boat Drink University.

Tropical Soul, Hog's Breath: An always entertaining band from central PA fronted by Dennis McCaughey, it also featured one of the ladies up for "Female Vocalist of the Year" at the Trop Rock Awards, Heather - whose last name I never caught. I actually didn't even get her first name right, either, because I called her "Sue" when I introduced myself after their set, thinking she was Dennis' wife, who had sent me a number of their songs for an internet radio show I'm working on. Heather was gracious, however, and - instead of correcting or reprimanding me, she handed me two of her own cd's. She is also incredibly talented, rocking a flawless version of Adele's "Rolling In The Deep".

Jimmy Parrish, Willie T's: It's always great to see Jimmy and this Jacksonville, FL based Ocean Waves Band. The house was packed, the band sounded great, much tequila was consumed - a typical Jimmy Parrish show.

Jim Morris and The Big Bamboo Band, Smokin' Tuna Saloon: This was our first chance to check out Scott Kirby's new place (see previous interview with Scott about the Tuna on this blog) and to hear Jim Morris do a full set with his band. I never heard why, but the show began with what surely must have been the longest sound check in history- "check one" became "check a hundred and one"- but, this was a party for Jim's fan club, so the place was full of folks I have a feeling would have sat through a hurricane to hear him play. And he didn't disappoint, despite the late start, runing through a long list of his original songs, plus some great covers, like Jerry Jeff Walker's "Navajo Rug".

Interesting side lights included two girls in the front row who were either auditioning for - or had just been fired from their job as - background singers. They had carefully choreographed, synchronized dance moves to EVERY SONG Morris did. There was also a visit from the Beer Fairy. Not making that last one up.

Jimmy & The Parrots, Schooner Wharf: Our last stop of the night, this one was memorable for being the biggest and most entertaining train wreck we saw all week. I had heard soem great things about Jimmy and his band and was anxious to see them rock the Wharf's outdoor stage. By the time we got there, however, the band had obviously consumed much of the bar's supply of adult beverages because it had deteriorated into a drunken mess, with people climbing on and off the stage, songs started but not finished, and songs started that shouldn't have been in the first place. The band was having a blast, though, and so were their friends up front, so chalk it up to the late hour...and blame it on the Rum. Jimmy and The Parrots more than made up for it a few nights later, opening for the Coral Reefer band at the Casa Marina Beach party.