Trash talkers, Trevor Hall and transvestites

by Chris Aaland

The Atlanta Falcons have egg on their facemasks. Though they beat a very good Detroit Lions team on Sunday, their reaction to the trash talking of Ndamukong Suh after Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan suffered a minor leg injury portrayed them as a bunch of tattletales. The sporting community laughed their asses off.

News brief: Trash talking is nothing new. Cobb was great at it. So were Ali and Jordan. Get under your opponent’s skin, and he’s likely to snap. It happens in little league, high school, college and the pros. Sportsmanlike? No. Showmanlike? Absolutely. Effective? Hell yes.

I can remember countless times that I got into the head of my opponents in basketball, and I was a mediocre trash-talker. But the code stated that if you gave a teammate a hard foul, payback would be delivered in the future. If you talked smack, someone would bark right back at you later in the game, maybe right after you missed a game-tying free throw. My favorite tactic was to lay somebody out with a hard foul, then reach down and give him a hand and quietly remind him that I had two or three more fouls to give. “Gut, butt and elbows,” our coach would preach as keys for jousting for rebounding position. He didn’t have to emphasize the verbal jousting that accompanied it.

So take a letter, Maria. Address it to Atlanta’s Roddy White. Save the whine for some cheese.

Though he may look like a SoCal surf punk, Trevor Hall is an acolyte of Bob Marley. Thusly, he brings reggae to the Community Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m. Saturday. You may have heard Hall’s “The Lime Tree” and “Other Ways” in the children’s movie, “Shrek the Third.” That led to his being signed by Vanguard Records. His lead single in 2009, “Unity,” was inspired by the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Hall’s latest effort, “Everything Everytime Everywhere,” pays homage to two of his heroes, Marley and Ben Harper. Special guest Cas Haley opens.

Acclaimed Scottish instrumentalist and singer Julie Fowlis returns to the Community Concert Hall at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday with “Music of the Scottish Isles.” Fowlis brings centuries-old songs from the windswept islands of the Outer Hebrides to just 12 American audiences on this tour. Her mesmerizing vocal power has introduced Gaelic songs to a mainstream audience, something rather unheard of in the genre. Our own Celtic band, Giant’s Dance, opens.

KDUR’s 19th annual Transvestite Ball takes place at 8 p.m. Friday at the Abbey. In what’s become one of Durango’s favorite traditions, cross-dressing ghouls and goblins get crazy in this event that always sells out.

Also on tap at the Abbey this week: Cowboy night with Tim Sullivan at 8 p.m. tonight (Thurs., Oct. 27); a hip-hop Halloween party and freestyle battle featuring Mr. Midas, Diabolical Sound Platoon, DJ Mowgli and DJ Essential (winner of the freestyle battle takes home $300 in cash); and a Halloween movie night featuring “Nightmare of the Living Dead” and costume contests.

Carver’s Halloween Bash is scheduled for 9 p.m. Saturday, featuring the bluegrass stylings of Waiting on Trial and the requisite costume contest (a keg is up for grabs).

The Summit’s slate includes Thirsty Thursday with DJ CSO, Peter Robot and Treazon tonight, The Formless on Friday, Red Eyed Djinn on Saturday, and the Aftergrass Halloween Spooktacular on Monday.

Moe’s madness this week includes Salsa Night (tonight), dancing with DJ Soltron (Saturday), Musica del Mundo (Sunday), and what’s being called “Durango’s most elaborately decorated bar” for Halloween (Monday).

The Ska-B-Q is a year-round affair, in case ya’ll need a reminder. This week is a tasty one: local bluegrass/Americana outfit Wild Mountain. Brad Bartlett, Estella Moore, Rusty Charpentier and Mark Epstein opened up for Town Mountain at the Durango Arts Center and showed they’ve graduated from fledgling local act to string band well-deserving of your ears and attention.

More stuff: The Three Brothers (a duo, actually), does El Rancho from 5-8 p.m. Friday; the Irish Embassy’s regular Irish jam session gets moved to 3 p.m. from its usual 12:30 p.m. Sunday and is followed by a ceili featuring Big’ns; The Embassy hosts costume contests on Saturday and Monday;

Psychedelic Mojo plays classic rock covers on Halloween at the Derailed Saloon (a trip to Vegas will be awarded during the costume contest); and Ska’s annual pumpkin carving contest takes place at 5:30 p.m. Monday at the World Headquarters ($5 entry.)

Stop the presses! KDUR will present Led Zeppelin Cover Night on Sat., Jan. 21 at the Summit. Why such an early lead time? This one was chosen by you, the fans, and local acts are already lining up to claim their songs. Carute Roma immediately nabbed “Immigrant Song,” while Aftergrass seized “No Quarter.” Does your band want to bogart “Trampled Underfoot” or “Gallows Pole?” Then contact KDUR czar Bryant Liggett at 247-7261 or liggett_b@fortlewis.edu. And please … unless your name is Jimmy Page, forget the 25-minute, bowed guitar version of “Dazed and Confused.” Liggett asks that bands choose shorter titles rather than lengthy epics.

This week’s Top Shelf list pays homage to a half-dozen of my favorite trash talkers of all time:
- Patrick Roy. To then-Blackhawk Jeremy Roenick in the 2006 Stanley Cup playoffs: “I can’t really hear what Jeremy says because I’ve got my two Stanley Cup rings plugging my ears.”
- Dikembe Mutombo. Sometimes words aren’t enough. His trademark finger-wag after blocked shots was banned by the NBA.
- Tom Jackson. The former Broncos linebacker and longtime ESPN football analyst once ran up to the Raiders’ sideline and told Hall of Fame coach John Madden “It’s all over now, Fat Man!” The boys in orange wound up advancing to Super Bowl XII that year.
- Shannon Sharpe. The NFL Hall of Famer once picked up a sideline phone in front of TV cameras and boasted, “Mr. President, send in the National Guard … because we’re killing the Patriots!”
- Larry Bird. Some may argue he was the greatest basketball player ever. As skilled as No. 33 was, his ability to irritate infuriated his opponents.
- Muhammad Ali. The greatest’s greatest: “Joe Frazier is so ugly that he should donate his face to the U.S. Bureau of Wildlife.”

Whatever happened to my Transylvania twist? Email me at chrisa@gobrainstorm.net.?