i fell in love tonight

it's true. i fell in love. tonight i FINALLY got to go to the Green Mill. oh my lord, oh my lord. i don't know where to start. it was........AMAZING. i swear, why there is no place like this in LA is mind boggoling (my dad uses this word, don't ask), but then again LA sucks!

fuck. i've never heard muic like that before. it was GYPSY JAZZ. it was for lack of better words, so fucking good so fucking good. I wonder if I can get married at the Green Mill, give birth at the Green Mill, or die at the Green Mill. I'll take any one of the three. it sounds crazy, but i really loved everything about the place. From the exterior, to the classy interior, it is so old school, to the band, to the audience, to the stage set up, the performers - you get the point.

this is their site

http://www.greenmilljazz.com/

The Green Mill Jazz Club History

Throughout its uproarious history, The Green Mill Jazz Club has played host to a number of famous - and often infamous - celebrities. Opened in 1907 as Pop Morse's Roadhouse, the "Mill" was a stopping place for mourners to celebrate the passing of a friend before proceeding to St. Boniface's Cemetery. By 1910, new owners had converted the roadhouse into the Green Mill Gardens, complete with lantern-lit outdoor dancing and drinking areas, and boasting such headliners as Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor and Sophie Tucker. Actors Wallace Beery and Bronco Billy Anderson also visited the Gardens, hitching their horses to the outdoor post and settling down for a drink after a days work filming westerns at nearby Spoor and Anderson Studios.

As the twenties roared, The Green Mill became mobster territory when Al Capone's henchman, "Machinegun" Jack McGurn, gained a 25% ownership of the club. Manager Danny Cohen had given McGurn the 25% stake to "persuade" comedian/singer Joe E. Lewis from moving his act south to the New Rendezvous Café at Clark and Diversey. McGurn managed to convince Lewis by slitting his throat and cutting off his tongue. Miraculously, Lewis recovered, but his songs never regained their lush sound. The incident was later immortalized in the movie The Joker is Wild, with Frank Sinatra as Joe E. Lewis and a Hollywood soundstage as The Green Mill. Of course, his interest piqued, Sinatra had to visit the club.

Throughout the 1930s, '40s, and 50s, The Green Mill continued to pack 'em in with a heady mix of swing, dance and jazz music. Uptown crowds from the Aragon Ballroom or Uptown and Riviera Theaters would "stop in for one" before or after shows. Business began to slip in the mid-seventies, and in 1986, present owner Dave Jemilo bought The Green Mill and restored it to its prohibition-era, speakeasy décor.

Tonight I saw...
ALFONSO PONTICELLI and SWING GITAN
featuring...
Alfonso Ponticelli on guitar
Jason Miller on guitar
James Sanders on violin
Louis Marini on bass

www.swinggitan.com

my favorite was the violin player i have to say. I hear he is the only real Gypsy in the band. He looked like he was straight out of the Soprano's. straight up pimp, he played that violin like it was a _____. lol so very well. I also liked Alfonso and there was also an accordian player who was real good and reminded me of my dad ( b/c he also plays). Basically the music they played was such a good combination of jazz, gypsy, it just made me want to dance!! but no one did :( i really wanted to dance. there was an older woman, i'll be nice and say she was in her late fifties, sitting right in front shakin' it in her seat! she was awesome. i wish people got up to dance, but it was still cool bc you can tell everyone there was really listening and appreciating the music. if people started talking, they would more or less whisper. the music was the main focus. the crowd was a good mix of adults and kids in their twenties, and lots in between which was real cool too to see how all ages can enjoy. i want to go back every night. i can go on about this place forever, so i'll just stop now.

but i'm goin back Fri night i think b/c Von Freeman is going to play on sax!!! and i heard the owner will be there. i have a plan. stealin' boxes.