Deep Purple in Kalamata

I grew up listening to Aerosmith, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, The Who, David Bowie, Yes and Kiss. Later it was The Clash and the Pistols, the Jam, Psychedelic Furs, English Beat — I could go on.

Truth is I appreciate all kinds of music — I recently took my daughter to see Taylor Swift at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, and I’m now quite possibly the world’s only 63-year-old male Swiftie. Cruel Summer - great track.

But my musical roots are firmly planted in 70s rock & roll.

Last night I was strolling around Kalamata’s old town looking for a bar to have a drink before dinner. Fact — most people don’t go to bars around here. Many restaurants and tavernas don’t even have them and in those that do, the seats are usually empty. People sit at tables and actually talk to each other, weird as that may sound.

Anyway, I did find a couple of legit bars down a little side street and one of them was blasting Maggie May, my all-time favorite Rod Stewart song. I parked my butt on a barstool (but again all the other patrons were sitting at high-tops outside), and ordered an Irish whiskey on the rocks.

Next thing it’s a Metallica track (I don’t recall which one), followed by Deep Purple’s Highway Star, at which point I remarked to the bartender, “I f—n love Deep Purple!” He just looked at me curiously and said “Who doesn’t?” I could tell he didn’t because his 20-something year-old ears had probably never heard of them.

Still, it was pretty cool to find a “Rock Bar” in the middle of Kalamata, Greece. And I mentioned to the bartender that I’d never heard music like that anywhere else in town. His response - “that is because Kalamata is a veelage” (try to imagine the Greek accent).

Just speaks to the point I made in an earlier post that Kalamata is a study in contrasts. Rock on.