I'm guestimating I heard "opa!" about 2000 times this week, as I live across the street from the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Spirit on South Avenue, which last weekend held its Greek Festival. The Aegean Greek Orchestra played all weekend long, and provided a kind of crash course in Greek folk music. The dominant instrument, the bouzouki (kinda like a mandolin), plinkled and twinkled throughout the weekend like a giant music box. And where Greek folk music is relatively strident (perhaps even a distant cousin to polka), the vocals meander and intone with ease and romance. And don't get me started on the baklava...

Abilene, Abilene, prettiest bar I ever seen, had some down and dirty punk country last Thursday night. Actually it was more like straight country played by punks, and not the Tex and the Horseheads-type two-step slam dance I expected. Still, L.A. hillbillies Jason and the Punknecks brought the trash and twang. It was urgent, it was raw, full of blood, dust, and rust - the kind that doesn't sleep. However, Jason's unfortunate racial slur toward the end of the set left me disappointed. Look, I understand black pride is perceived as empowering and white pride as racist, but music by its all-embracing nature is supposed to bridge that divide and not pick at the scab. Besides, we're all black when the lights go out. Good looking, too.

The Electro Kings are all about fine tuned control. I mean, if you can get fat tones out of your instruments while playing on a stage that is essentially a shelf in the window, you can do it anywhere. And man, don't they dress nice. Luca Foresta's harp was thick and sweet, with just enough freight train grit to scratch your Little Walter itch. And if you ask me, the man looks like a movie star. The band leans heavy on West Coast jump, and everyone at Beale Street Friday night was eatin' to the beat. I left as the band was wailin' a slow 12-bar, and I could still hear it as I trudged back up to the Greek Fest. Bouzouki and harp, moussaka, and barbeque all danced happily in the air together. We should all be so lucky.