Terry Cassidy – with a banjo on my knee Terry Cassidy, born and raised in the Cleveland area, comes from a family of musicians, learning the guitar very early and later, the banjo at age 17. His first gig was a duo with his Uncle Gordy – they “tickled the strings” together. In November 1979, […]
A Music Masterpiece family The Key West Lopez family have musical roots that trace back four generations and even further to their Bahamian music roots. Clayton Lopez is older brother to Calvin, and sister Wilhelmina (“Mina”), all gifted vocalists. Another brother Carlton is deceased. Clayton seemed to always have some kind of stringed instrument […]
Richmond, Virginia Remembers Bill Blue Ten days ago, I traveled to Richmond to attend the celebration of Bill Blue’s life. Bill left Richmond in 1982 and lived most of the rest of his life in Key West. He is a Key West legend that is revered by all. This trip to his hometown opened up […]
Green Parrot/NOLA connection – spread the gospel For years, John Vagnoni, managing partner of the Green Parrot, looked for bands traveling in this direction from all over the Southeast and would book touring bands to perform at the Green Parrot. Key West was always an easy sell. New Orleans (NOLA) musicians have always been a […]
Jefff ….. just found out what the third “f” stands for Jeff Clark along with his younger sister Amy and older brother Bryan were raised in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. At age 6, he began taking piano lessons and singing in the church choir. When he was older, Jeff read books by Dr. Daniel […]
Deb Hudson she needs music to have an identity From Raleigh, North Carolina, Debra (Deb) Hudson grew up sitting on the piano bench next to her father who was a Jazz musician. She credits him with her style of singing, down to the little inflections in her voice. She began playing guitar and writing songs […]
Yvan Agbo played with an infectious joy Yves (Yvan) Marie Claude Agbo was born in Dakar, Senegal, West Africa on July 6, 1967. He was the youngest of six – 5 boys and 1 girl. Yvan’s father played guitar when he was young. Everyone in the family followed in his footsteps and learned to play […]
Din Allen “suffering of change.” James “Din” Allen came to Key West from New York City in 1978, to join his brother Woody and to play bass at the Rose Tattoo, (currently, Bagatelle). They performed at other locations but after the winter season ended, it became more difficult to find work. Most bands would leave […]
The Bubba System – Conch Bred It all started, in 1998, with a trip to Big Coppitt Key for the first rehearsal of a still unnamed group of local Conch musicians that included Paulie Walterson, Johnny King, Bobby Jabour, John Nunes, and a bartender/lead singer from the Purple Porpoise Bar, Debra – no one can […]
Key West Music Memories After interviewing 142 Key West musicians, I’ve heard some great stories. I haven’t been able to squeeze many of the short stories into a musicians’ biography or even the weekly music column, so I thought I would share these three with you this week. Closing of the Full Moon Saloon For […]
