The Happy Dog DJ fix

Yeah, it was kind of a Gram Parson's kind of weekend but I'll get to that in the next post.  More than that it was more of a Happy Dog kind of weekend.  I honestly can say I clocked more hours at the Happy Dog in the last few nights than a full day of work.  It started last Friday and continued on until...well last night...or more accurately, the wee hours of Saturday morning.  Last Friday I went in for dinner and to see the DJ styling of Mr. Clinton J. Holley and his Ohio City Opry.  Now as you know the Happy Dog serves 4 things.  They serve a create your own hot dog with 50+ toppings, tater tots, french fries and...entertainment.

On the hot dog front I went with Momocho's habanero hot sauce, bleu cheese coleslaw and potato chips.  This turned out to be a great combo with the coolness of the slaw fighting the ass kicking habanero sauce.  The chips I just threw in there to snack on because they always kind of just fall off.  It's like getting a bonus side.  I went with the saffron aioli dipping sauce for the tots and another side of the molten lava Momocho hot sauce as if the slathering of it on the hot dog wasn't enough to hurt me.  If you think a hot dog and tots isn't filling think again.  It is a hammer of a meal and will keep you well satisfied.  All for the reasonable price of $7.50 total.  I think someone bitched about a $5.00 hot dog not too long ago.  Oh yeah, that was me.  I'm sold on it now because of the quality of the dog and it's toppings itself.  The meal is worth every penny of the $7.50.  

Now there were a couple things that complimented this hot dog dinner.  The first is the venue itself which I have spoke of in previous posts.  Think of it as the charm and comfort of a local dive in a clean tidy package.  The beer choices were of the Polish variety; Tyskie and Okocim.  A nice pale ale standard, light and refreshing.  The stuff you want to grab for in the back of the fridge after a hot summers day to reward yourself after cutting the lawn.  Sounds like a beer commercial in the making but it's pretty accurate.  All I need is some hot Polish chick in pigtails in a cleavage revealing white off the shoulder top to complete the fantasy...ok bring it back...bring it back.  The reason we came to check it out was to see Clinton J Holly spinning some old school country music.

Many Cleveland folk might remember Mr. Holley from his long run booking bands for the Beachland Ballroom.  Others might know him from his work with bands like Hayshaker Jones and many other fine projects.  Well, he is holding DJ court at the Happy Dog on select Friday nights playing classic and outlaw country favorites.  I used to be in that whole DJ thing some time ago and have hung up the golden scratching hands for a life of 52 Weeks of Cleveland.  Well that and I was sick of people who would request really bad music.  Folks we are talking about grown adults asking for Hannah Montana songs.  I remember the beginning of the end of my DJ career when some sideways wearing douche asked me for Young Jeezy.  My reply back was "What the fuck is a Young Jeezy?"  Sad to say I actually did have the song and ended up playing it.  I had so much crap downloaded on my laptop I didn't even know the extent of my catalog was shit I would never listen to in a million years.  Sure there were other classic moments in DJ-Sin's Illustrious career.  There was the time I threw a microphone at a patron, the time I packed up my gear proclaiming "I'm a fucking artist, I don't need this shit." and walked out the door an hour into a 5 hour set.  I think multiple people have a story of me being the worlds biggest asshole DJ in the world.  It is the thing of legends in the area.  However the times I was on, I was really on.  That being said I am retired but would love to go back to doing it after seeing Holley and of course Kishka since it seems there finally is a market for genre DJ's again.  I specialize in old school funk, soul and deep grooves from the 60's and 70's for whoever wants to give it a shot.            

Anyhow enough of the shameless self promotion.  It's not about me, right?   I used to hate people coming up to request stuff so I went ahead and requested stuff from him because well that is how I roll.  Honesty I wanted to introduce myself because there is something inherently creepy about some dude taking your picture for no apparent reason.  Clinton is a fan of the blog and an all around good guy.  We chatted up music and a whole lot of Cleveland stuff.  Anyone who wants to talk Cleveland and music with me is cool in my book.  He tipped me off to Prosperity Social Club which I am a huge fan of and where I spent most of the next Saturday night seeing a Canadian three piece alt-country group call The Silvertones.  The Dog was kind of quiet but those who were there were really enjoying the tunes.  He hit it all from Johnny Cash, and Charlie Louvin to Wanda Jackson and Loretta Lynn.  He even played me a little Texas Tornadoes.  It was a nice vibe and a different change of pace from the normal boom boom rump shaking bullshit that ends up causing countless unwanted pregnancies in West 6th Street girls.  

DJ II was a cat I talked about in previous blogs going by the name of DJ Kishka.  Genius.  That is all.  His Kishka character, now with Busha on a drum kit doing the ba-dum-bum-CHING drum roll details after Kishka's many punchlines.  He drinks, he sings, he dances, he tells jokes, claps along, plays the accordion and incites general merriment among those in the audience.  He is a real deal entertainer.  Why no one thought of this concept or how he thought of it who knows, but it is nothing short of genius.  You have blue haired old ladies clapping along with hipsters.  It just works for whatever reason.  To say it was a packed house last night is putting it mildly.  The place was wall to wall packed.  Wall to wall packed to see a DJ?  You bet your dupa!  

It's not just a DJ thing with him it's a polka party.  The records skip because of the dancing in front of the stage.  He plays the same songs multiple times in a night.  As a matter of fact I think he played Ice Cubes and Beer polka probably 4 times but each time the crowd got more and more into it.  The crowd as a matter of fact could care less about the skipping songs because it is this vibe thing that sucks you in and makes you stay.  Polka music is a guilty pleasure to many folks, and from the packed house you people all know who you are!  I have been asked by friends to explain the phenomena of this whole thing and it really is something you have to see to truly understand the beauty of it.  Many still don't get it but I am trying to convert as many people as possible.  It's just something words can't do justice.  Skipping songs, polkas, accordion, same songs multiple times turns into a laugh induced, beer chugging singalong dance party.  There is not much else out there happy hour-wise that can compete with the overall vibe of DJ Kiska's Polka Happy Hour.  Hey now!  You need to try it for yourself to truly understand it.