The Unbearable Lightness Of Being Cool

The Ambassador of Cool is currently away on holiday so I have leaped into the breach of his absence to contribute to this Blog. I spent an inordinate amount of time thinking about a topic and after mulling it for 30 to 45 seconds, it occurred to me that you would like to expand your knowledge of terms or phrases associated with the Monkey. I suspect that you will be forever in my debt for my sharing these items that you have longed to know the true meaning of.
Monkey Business (see below)
Monkey Wrench – 1. A handy tool, the “monkey-wrench”, is not so named because it is a handy thing to monkey (tinker) with. 2- Sabotage, impediment, dilemma or obstacle that impedes progress, hence the phrase “monkey wrench in the works”. 3 – One of the weapons used in Clue. Interesting Sidebar: The British use the phrase, “Spanner In The Works” because the adjustable wrench is called a Spanner wrench over there – this prompted John Lennon to write second book titled “A Spaniard In The Works” following the vast critical acclaim of his first effort, a short piece called “Last Will And Testicle” discovered in “In His Own Write”.

Monkey’s Uncle 1- May have originated during or after the famous Scopes Trial (Creationism vs. Evolution) in 1926 (also known as the Monkey Trial) but the term is used as an expression of disbelief or surprise, as in: “I’ll be a monkey’s uncle” or as the Brits say, “Blimey” or “Stone The Crows!” in Australia. A friend of mine from Birmingham, Alabama used the term quite frequently since his nephew did indeed, resemble a Capuchin.

Brass Monkey 1-A rectangular frame used to stack cannon balls onboard sailing warships. Brass was used because of its low coefficient of expansion caused by temperature. Iron racks used to shrink during cold weather and the cannon balls would fall off and roll across the deck. Because brass has a lower shrinkage, it takes a tremendous drop in temperature to allow the ball to fall off. I think there is a saying about brass monkeys during cold weather…

Monkey Suit 1-A tuxedo. It was named after the suit with tails that the organ grinder’s monkey would wear while gathering coins from the spectators (usually while “dips” were helping themselves to the onlookers wallets and pocket books).

Monkey Business 1 – Wasting time or effort on something silly or playful and non-productive. 2 – An activity considered illegal or questionable, perhaps indulging one’s vice. 3 – A company in California that promotes and sells gear for wave skimming (Aquatic Skateboarding). www.monkeybuisiness.com Interesting Sidebar: It’s quite possible that the Ambassador may accuse me of dabbling in this activity whilst he was away…

Mind Monkey (or Monkey Mind) 1 – A Chinese/Japanese Buddhist term meaning “unsettled; restless; capricious; whimsical; fanciful; inconstant; confused; indecisive; uncontrollable”. Kind of reminds me of a girl I once dated…

Monkey On One’s Back 1 – Originated as an underground term for having a drug habit, as in: “can’t shake this monkey off my back”. It evolved into a wrestling or oriental fighting term that described removing a hold an opponent had by flipping them off your back, e.g., “Standing Monkey Flip Drop Toe Hold Dragon Screw Legwhip”. I can still recall the first time my sister saw Uncle Joe without a shirt, he being of the Italian persuasion, was endowed quite hirsute and she screamed “There’s a monkey on Uncle Joe’s Back!”

Timmy The Monkey 1 – Official mascot of ThinkGeek website. Tag line: “stuff for smart masses” www.thinkgeek.com
Monkey Brain Stew 1- a special loot item from the Mafia Wars (game found on Facebook?). This item is a spoof of another of Zynga”s games, Café World.

Sock Monkey 1- Originally a hand puppet made by using a wool sock with a red reinforced heel as the monkey’s mouth. 2 – Commercially produced toy copying the look of the original homemade puppet that now is offered in a wide variety of “Sock Toys” see: ThinkFastToys. This is probably what drove Sheri Lewis out of the ventriloquist game (remember Lambchop?)

Love Monkey 1 – Short lived television series (Hey, the made 8 episodes!) starring Tom Cavanagh from 2006 on CBS. It was so popular that the producers decided to move it to VH1 (or was it TLC?) for the final episodes so the other half of the audience might catch a glimpse. Meanwile, I have been trying for 5 years to erase my Tivo.

I have just checked my inbox and found a note from Honey with this week’s Blues Letter so I need to get busy with my publishing. Thanks for stopping by, Nick. (He’s the only one I told that I was subbing for the AOC)

~Wizard

Wow. I took over our accounting this year and have been buried about three feet deep. I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel…just hope it’s not the train. It is a good week to come up for air and we have great music this week…just don’t know when I will get to sleep. Jack Hadley on Thursday…one of our local greats…think Robert Cray smooth. Big Bill Morganfield on Friday…hopefully you can figure out whose son he is…if not do some research ‘cause I ain’t telling. Always puts on a great show. John-Alex Mason on Saturday. One of my favorites who just put out a fantastic new CD. You gotta hear it. And a Memorial Benefit on Sunday for Bodo Turner (Kai Turner’s son). Starts at 4PM with a $10 donation required and a who’s who of musicians including Johnny Long who is flying in from Kansas, Tempa, Lionel Young Band, Austin Young, Erica Brown, Scotty Rivera, Billy Hoke, Jill, Gretchen, Russ, Taylor, Nic Clarke, the Delta Sonics and many more. Maybe even a special appearance by my unnamed friend whose initials are OT.
Wow again!

Sometimes we have music here at the Boulder Outlook that frankly we do not deserve to have. This is world class stuff and the talented musicians who are performing it deserve much bigger rooms and way more money that what we pay. But it can happen here nonetheless. Saturday night was one of those nights. Ronnie Baker Brooks, an extraordinary musician and a first class gentleman, flew in from Chicago to help us with a benefit for the Blue Star Connection. We had a group of local musicians who came in to join Ronnie on stage and what happened that night was nothing short of magic. The Delta Sonics with Al Chesis and Jeremy Vasquez of course did their always excellent job of holding it all together and taking center stage when it was their turn to solo. The first set really got rolling when our own local musical phenom Otis Taylor got up on stage. The party kept growing as Gretchen Troop and Lionel Young joined in. And I lack the words to describe what happened when Eddie Turner got on stage with Ronnie….I can only say that I have never heard or seen anything better.

We have great local musicians here in the Colorado Front Range. People need to get out and support them at every opportunity.

I must be in a BLUES mood here at the Boulder Outlook Hotel. Probably because I have been working on getting the word out about some great events we have coming up. Before I get to them, I am excited to hear Alan James tonight in the club. He is a newbie to the Colorado Scene, but comes with some great credentials.

But lots of BIG things coming up. Ronnie Baker Brooks is flying in on December 4th to play with the Delta Sonics. This will be a fun time, not just because it will be the first of Honey’s three or four birthday parties during the month, but also because we will be raising money for the Blue Star Connection. A great BLUES charity, which you can check out here: http://www.grandblues.org/BlueStar/tabid/59/Default.aspx

Plans have shaped up for our New Years Eve Celebration with the Delta Sonics and reservations are now available. Last year we sold the show out and hoping to do the same again this year. But what has really been turning my wheels is the 3rd Annual Ship-Less Blues Cruise scheduled for February 18-20, 2011. Bob Margolin, Ron Thompson, Gina Sicilia, Dave Gross, Matt Hill, Tempa (who always makes me happy!), the Delta Sonics, Lionel Young and the Heavy Cats. This is going to be a great weekend….and if sales go as well as last year we are going to bring in a few more artists.

OK so I finally joined the modern era and got a new cell phone…makes me remember when I used to have a pager…or even when someone first asked me to fax them something. It’s an EVO and it is great. I might even start trying to use my face book account now that I have this thing…which for you kids out their means that face book is over…move on to something new…of course you have already I am sure. And Otis Taylor is really working his jam workshop. Must be one of the reasons he is so successful, because if he works everything as hard as he is working this: look out. I’ll plug it one more time because I know that it will be great. For you musicians out there this is going to be a workshop about creating music, not just cutting riffs. Read the post below for more details.

One of my first comments and it’s from Jackie McCort, Ron Thompson’s special lady! Yippee! As I said below…I don’t have favorites but there is no cooler cat on the planet than Ron Thompson. Ron will be back in February for the Boulder Outlook Hotel’s Third Annual Ship-less Blues Cruise. The place will be smoking all weekend as Ron will be joined by Steady Rollin’ Bob Margolin, Gina Sicilia, Matt Hill, Dave Gross , Tempa & the Tantrums and the Delta Sonics. The cruise sets sails February 18th…President’s Day Weekend and cabins are available at our front desk 303.443.3322 x 0.

Rachel Jane & the Hurricane, will be here at the Boulder Outlook Hotel Saturday night. Although they hail from nearby Westminster it will be their first time in our room. How did such an oversight happen? I don’t know. But I can tell you how it was corrected. A few months ago during the preliminary rounds in the Colorado Blues Society’s International Blues Challenge competition, I hopped on my motorcycle and got down to one of the preliminary rounds. I was glad that I did. The Informants (may they rest in peace) came out of that room, and rightfully so. But I did get a chance to hear Rachel Jane & the Hurricane. Little did I know that Rachel had just injured her back, and when I talked to her later, was having trouble just standing up. You would have never been able to guess that from her performance on stage. She was sensational. I am precluded from having favorites, not only because I like to be more diplomatic than that, but more importantly I don’t think that I am qualified to distinguish between some of the truly outstanding musicians who play here. As Muddy Waters once said “There is no “best”, just the good ‘uns.” I will say this: You can put Rachel in a room with anyone I have heard sing and she will not only hold her own, she will stand out. Rachel has a strong band behind her including JD who can cut some mean riffs on lead guitar. Don’t take my word for it. Go to their website (below) and play some tracks. Humor me and play “Cold Shot” first. And then come on down Saturday!

http://www.myspace.com/racheljaneandthehurricane

On November 28th, the Boulder Outlook Hotel will proudly play host to Otis Taylor’s “Trance Blues Certified” Jam Workshop. Otis is a true musical treasure, and here you don’t have to take my word for it.
• Living Blues Reader”s Poll awarded Taylor (along with Etta James) the “Best Blues Entertainer” title in 2004
• Otis has numerous Blues Music Foundation (W.C. Handy) nominations and has won the award for “Best New Artist Debut.”
• Guitar Player magazine writes, “Otis Taylor is arguably the most relevant blues artist of our time.”
Believe me I could go on, but if you don’t already get the point you can find out more at:

http://www.otistaylor.com/

In any event Otis has been a great friend to the Boulder Outlook Hotel and our music scene, helping in many ways that aren’t obvious. Usually Otis would be touring around Europe over the Holidays, but this year finds him home in Boulder. So we are going to try something. On Sunday November 28th (you should have digested your turkey been then and need to move around a bit) Otis is going to hold a Jam Workshop. Otis believes that music is created in a jam environment, and as he has told me: “All of my performances are jams.” If you have listened to Otis’ music you know that while it may have grown out of the Blues it really is its own genre: “Trance Blues” and borrows from many musical forms to create something that is truly its own. Otis wants share his approach to the performance and creation of music in a workshop environment. The workshop will be held here at the hotel in one of our conference rooms from 1PM-5PM and will be followed by a one hour jam at 6PM featuring Otis and the students. The cost of the workshop is $40 per student and a limited number of need based scholarships are available through the Colorado Blues Society (contact Chick at chick1951@hotmail.com for details). The jam is open to the public and will be followed by our normal Sunday evening jam.

Otis is hoping to attract musicians, singers, writers and educators of all ages to the workshop. All instruments are welcome. I think this is a unique opportunity to learn from and share with a world-renowned artist. Otis has jammed with the likes of Charlie Musselwhite, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, Jimi Hendrix and many others. As Otis said to me recently: “People catch on to the blues and they move through a progression from Stevie Ray to Jimi to Muddy and they end up at Robert Johnson. But the music that Robert Johnson was playing came from someplace before as well.” I think that musicians of all levels could learn something inspirational from this workshop.
You can make your reservation by calling our front desk at 303.443.3322 x 0. Space is limited.

Three days in Vegas and I am going to be home tonight. Just in time too, with SheGrooves playing for our Halloween Party. Saw lot’s of great performers….and some incredible costumes in Vegas. But of course there is always something just a little bit artificial about everything in Vegas. It will be good to hear musicians up close and personal tonight.

Happy Days are here again. Not only is the recession officially over but as of 6:45PM Monday night the recovery is fully under way. The indications are clear. One of our regulars, who I will refer to as P, has been working overtime for several months, a clear indicator that his company must soon begin to hire. Another of our regulars, who I will call G, was informed Monday night that he had a new job after being unemployed for nearly two years. If this is not enough evidence in itself here is further proof. As I was sharing the happy news with some other guests at the bar, who were frankly skeptical, a customer whom we had never seen before sat down at the bar. Our bartender asked him what he would like, and he respond: “A beer” and after a brief pause during which he no doubt picked up on the karma at the bar and the new found momentum in the economy added, “…and a shot of Crown.” This is where and when the rebound started! Some come on in some time and catch the Karma!