The Giant Panther

I'm tabling a tune that has survived my own test of time. Mars Need Guitars! was released in 1985 and I'm here to tell you that Bittersweet is as good as it gets, Classic/Alternative or whatever you want to call it. Anyone who owns this record knows that Death Defying, Like Wow-Wipe Out and Poison Pen are quality tunes, but Bittersweet rocks my world every single time. This single ranks with any eighties song you want to name. They later rose to fame as a result of their 1991 release Kinky featuring tremendous tracks like Miss Freelove '69 and A Place in The Sun. If you aren't aware of those two songs get on the stick. A Place in The Sun might just be my second favorite Hoodoo's offering. They have a handful of great singles like I Want You Back, Lelani, What's My Scene and Come Anytime, but Australia can be proud of this export based on Bittersweet as far as I'm concerned. It's a smokin' hot cut in my book.

I saw them a couple of times over the years, but I remember going to a show at then named Citi Club, an edifice recently removed from the Boston landscape in favor of The House of Blues, on October 5, 1991. I ran into lead singer Dave Faulkner at Axis, an adjoining club next door not ten minutes after he left the Citi Club stage. I complemented him on his performance and he thanked me as if I was somebody. His humility impressed me. We didn't share shots of Jaegermeister or anything, as was custom back in the day, but we did share A Nod, which as you know is as Good as a Wink To a Blind Horse according to Faces.

I only mention Jaeger because I once did a set of shots with former NBA wacko Dennis Rodman, then of the Detroit Pistons, at the fabled Boston sports bar Daisy Buchanan's in or about 1988. He had no nose ring or eyebrow decor at the time and was (relatively) barely tattooed by then, but Dennis and I shared a bit of humanity as he held the entire bottle of Jaegermeister the bartender should have never given him full custody of. I said "here's the to the best offensive rebounder in the NBA" and he thanked me, again as if I was somebody (which also impressed me), and we parted ways after consecutive belts. Funny, if I had a chance to play 25 Things on Facebook again I'd have mentioned this. My high arc homer off of Huey Lewis (of The News Fame) and or my between innings feeding of grounders to LH throwing 2B Joan Jett as a 1B for the WBCN Ballbusters doesn't seem to have the same resonance without my Dennis Rodman story now that I think about it. True Stories (hey, a Talking Heads reference!) all around however...

Anyway, I'm trying to do a shorter version of my usual run on story telling tonight so I'm leaving you with Bittersweet. No relation to the respectable Big Head Todd & The Monsters song. This song brings the heat like hot sake in my living room among some special friends. Hope you like it.