WILD IN THE STREETS!

This past Saturday night Marti and I went to hear rock ‘n roll warrior Garland Jeffreys at Le Divan du Monde in Pigalle.

The Divan du Monde was immortalized in 1893 (when it was Le Divan Japonais) in this marvelous Toulouse-Lautrec poster.

Garland rocked hard. Now in his late sixties, the Brooklyn-born singer-songwriter remains in top form. Big thanks to our bud Yazid for inviting us to this super gig.

The venue is so intimate that Marti and I always hang back by the soundboard, where we enjoy great sightlines and still have room to move. We danced to "Rock And Roll Music" from his current CD The King Of In Between, the classic "Wild In The Streets" and the encore "96 Tears," which Garland had sung onstage with Bruce Springsteen in Holland earlier in the week.

Here are a couple of videos from the show, courtesy of fellow Paris blogger Dominique Planche:






After the gig my dance partner and I walked up the street to our new default post-gig dinner destination in Pigalle: Le Coryllis. Delicious Italian cuisine at highly reasonable prices.

Next stop: Bar 96 on Boulevard Charonne. A few of the unusual suspects had already gathered there and more drifted in later. A little after-hours jam ensued. Melissa Cox fiddled. Rob Armus tickled the ivories. Marti commandeered a ringside table.

Our longtime pal Chris Kenna dug the tunes. Rob and Melissa kicked down a sweet version of "Georgia On My Mind."


At closing time we were invited to depart Bar 96. Chris (shown here with Marti and hipster poet Moe Seager) had a plan. To take us all back to his crib. Except for two sketchy-lookin’ women at the back of the pack, who we managed to lose in the raindrops.

En route to the apartment Melissa and the ingeniously rain-protected Curtis discussed what apparently were important issues of the day.

Chez Chris. Emma and Rob. Rob played one of my all-time favorites, "Please Send Me Someone To Love" by Percy Mayfield. Country blues and vintage Dylan also made it into the mix.

Here's Rob in his One Man Banned incarnation:




Chris proved to be The Host With The Most. Wine, beer, whiskey and tasty grilled ham and cheese sandwiches emanated from his kitchen. Around three-thirty a.m. we lost Marti to a power nap on one of the beds. The rest of us partied on. Moe unleashed some of his unique jazz poetry, Rob sang and played and we listeners slipped into deep chill mode.

The Last Guitar On Earth. A street discard repurposed as found art.

Anybody need anything? Mister On The Case. It was pushing five on Sunday morning when Marti and I finally hit the glistening wet Paris streets, hailed a cab and returned to 85 rue Blomet. Another great night out on the town.

Over the years our Australian expat pal Chris Kenna has made so many of those evenings all the more special by singing and playing for us.


"I'm A King Bee" (Slim Harpo)
Chris Kenna (guitar, vocals), Melissa Cox (violin),
Claude Langlois (Weissenborn slide guitar) and Bako (harmonica)
11-30-10. Utopia Blues Club. Paris, France.