Channing Lynn Griggs – the clarinet came to the rescue Channing Lynn Griggs and identical twin sister, Jillian were born in Pensacola, Florida to U.S. Marine Corp pilot Larry Griggs and Sheryl Lynn, a nurse. The young couple already had a set of five year-old identical twin boys and doubled the size of their brood […]
The Larry Smith Sunday Showcase – at the Little Room Jazz Club About twenty-five years ago, Max Bozetti, manager of the Pier House Wine Galley, recruited Larry to bring his Jazz Jam to the Wine Galley which was a small intimate room. Larry’s grand piano was surrounded by music lovers, and an occasional amateur vocalist […]
Mick Kilgos: ” …music is the glue that holds Key West together.” Often introduced by Ericson Holt as ‘the pride of Kankakee’, Mick Kilgos was born in Kankakee, Illinois, a small town 45 miles south of Chicago. When he was 14 years old, he starting playing music. His life mirrors the story of a train […]
Andy Westcott The garage never had a car inside. Andy was born in Royal Oak, Michigan, near Detroit. He grew up in Asheville, North Carolina, where he attended school through his freshman year, later moving to Germantown, Pennsylvania, where he finished high school. His father was a drummer so naturally Andy started playing drums. Their […]
TODAY IS THE 89th BIRTHDAY – of Willie Nelson. February 17, 2020 Willie Nelson packed the new Key West Coffee Butler Amphitheater with 4000 loving fans. It was the largest crowd ever for a Key West concert. It was a privilege to hear this legendary performer live. The seven time Grammy award Winner has scored […]
Robin Kaplan – Making Miss Ellen proud Robin grew up in Woodridge, New York, a ‘huge music town’. It was small community upstate but still closely connected to all New York big bands and stars. She studied piano, guitar, flute and trombone in school, graduating from Fallsburg Central High School in 1972. Woodstock […]
EARTH DAY JAM Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson saw the ravages of the 1969 Santa Barbara, California oil spill, the Cuyahoga River caught on fire from pollutants in downtown Cleveland, and LA smog was so bad you couldn’t see the famous Hollywood sign some days, he initiated the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, (52 […]
Luannen – I have a million business cards Luannen was born in Cuba in 1979. Her mother, Luisa Ajuria, worked for Radiocentro CMQ in Havana, as an audio operator running live audio programing. It was a huge ten story complex that included a 1600 seat auditorium for productions. She would bring Luannen to work with […]
John LaMere “Playing songs people forgot they remember” by Ralph De Palma John LaMere grew up in Glen Cove, a city on Long Island, just outside the Big Apple. His great-grandfather, Stanley Melinson, sang tenor on Broadway with Al Jolson in the 1920s. He has a 1927 recording of his grandfather. At age […]
Bill Blue & Caffeine Carl Wagoner – A sight and sound to behold by Ralph De Palma Bill Blue and “Caffeine” Carl Wagoner have been friends and playing music together for over three decades. It started at one of the first Hemingway Days Festivals in 1984 when high school student Carl Wagoner’s first band, Bad […]
