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Stopped by the Hill to celebrate bartender extraordinaire, Nicky Bowe’s, birthday…and lo and behold, stumbled upon Churchill’s newest night of fun.

Of course there’s always good jazz Mondays and accousticish/ curry Wednesdays but now at least one Tuesday per month, Churchill’s is sponsoring a “talent” show. Think David Lynch meets jagermeister meets the gong show – without the gong or the hook.

This hilarious show features people’s mothers singing, juggling, a strange zither-like electric instrument with a vhs accompaniment, unamusing comedians, beat box, a few decent performers, and many dubious ones, just when you thought it couldn’t get worse than the ukelele player…..wait a while, after the way too long poetry recitations, we came to appreciate the simplicity of the ukeThere’s a panel of judges who award real trophies.

The hip crowd cheers and jeers, and the undaunted put it out there. . Bravo.

And after you can ride home on your boombike:

Click here to see more.

Good times.

Churchill’s sponsored an evening for Haitian Relief, music, and a blood drive Friday night:

Everyone does what he does best to help. Dancers dance and singers sing:

Awesome friends showed up. Impresario Tony, Sigi, and guitarist Birdman, who performed later:

Wonderful host and consummate bartender Nicky Bowe poses with Sigi:

The Haitian Sensation, DJ Haitian Hillbilly, (we just call him Big D), Alain Maximilien rouses the good crowd:

Hot Miami Nights always include random PDA:

There’s another concert relief effort for music lovers tonight at the Electric Pickle.

After an awesome Cool, Dark, and Anonymous at the Deuce, I head across the causeway to Churchill’s in Little Haiti: to celebrate Nicky Bowe’s birthday: He’s been talking about how great Birdman’s new band is, and when I walk in the joint, I concur. Rocking a cool rockabilly, Patsy Cline-gone-wild, The Hellbillyz sound fills the space: Fringe-wearing, Celine, whom I’ve known for years, belts out some classics and originals in a huge, gorgeous voice.  Who knew?: I can’t wait to hear them again:

As usual, the cool kids hang out front at Churchill’s: [singlepic id=499 w=320 h=240 float=center]

Awesome to start out the hot summer days with a new favorite band.

It was supposed to be cold and stormy, and when I woke this morning, it was a chilly 51, but by the time Greg called me in the afternoon, the day was a perfect Miami Day. We took the Lucy & Fionn out to Key Biscayne, and later went to Jimbo’s with Tanya, Cruz, and Nicky’s son, who is an awesome musician. Lots of laughs and terrific music. Greg and I are competing to take the photo for the album cover. I shot some video too. Hopefully Terry can splice and dice and work his editing magic and we’ll share some songs with you. Nicky’s son is playing at Churchill’s Wednesday night for Curry Wednesday/ Acoustic Wednesday. Come out and hear him before he hits it bigger.

All in all, a perfect day for bananafish.