This Deerfield Beach discount store, between a Pier One outlet store and Costume World, is one of about a dozen in a locally owned chain. Don't expect the cheapest prices do expect expert craftsmanship with incredible attention to detail and a severe lack of bullshit. He is at home with everything from superexpensive vintage Blackface Fenders to ultramodern boutique hybrids and doesn't turn his nose up at run-of-the-mill, workhorse solid-state circuitry. More to the point, the stuff Philips fixes stays that way. He fixes anything and everything that lets musicians make their music louder, and he does it expertly. Philips wields his massive knowledge of tube amplifiers, speaker cabinets, solid-state technology, advanced electronic circuitry, and history of power-driven music like a finely honed surgeon's scalpel. Alpha Kinetix was created by Gary Philips in 1979 and has since grown out of its home in a cubbyhole at Ridenour to take over a bay on Dixie Highway (just north of Cypress Creek). A pain matched only by the frustration of knowing that the amp had already been "fixed" three times before, by some wanker who supposedly offered a good deal. But she's a cruel mistress, that power-driven siren of rock especially when nothing comes out of the speaker, the light goes off, smoke rises from the machine, and everyone in the venue is staring. Knowing that she has a willing slave, the glowing red beacon of an LED bulb beckons the musician on. Musicians know that one of life's greatest pleasures is to plug in and turn on an amplifier: The hum as it warms up, a familiar sound promising future tones and harmonics served up loud. "If properly cared for," one girl explains, "many parrots will outlive their humans, and it isn't uncommon to include them in a will." So if you're ready to commit ("Polly wanna legacy?") or just prefer to visit this pet shop has exactly what it takes to ruffle your feathers.
As far as their birds are concerned, impulse purchasing is discouraged. It's so easy, in fact, to become enamored of the personality-rich companions that the shop's employees often have to double as the voice of reason. Still others have discovered the endearing traits of the caique parrots, who cheerfully roll on their backs until someone scratches their bellies, then casually pick the pockets of the would-be adopter. Others find themselves bobbing their heads along with the bebopping cockatiels and look as though they're sharing an iPod. A braver shopper extends a forearm offering to a massive African grey and waits nervously as the creature wraps one, then two, talon-tipped feet around the makeshift perch. While walking laps through the shop, browsers get more catcalls than are worthy of a New York construction site but here, the flirtatious whistlers in question are the dozen or so parrots, each one lookin' for a little love. Tiny suitcase-shaped cages are nested captives inside of giant bell-shaped ones and are then hung together from the ceiling or stored on shelves, snacks for the peckish that resemble trail mix or breakfast cereal wait patiently in their bins, and far in the back, hatchlings in incubators warm themselves in front of tiny light bulbs. Chippy the Pirate is as authentic to Florida as margarita lunch breaks, because at Chippy the Pirate, you can pick up any number of new, shoulder-clutching sidekicks and more dangly-rope pecking toys than even the most well-versed avian enthusiast could have predicted exists. To get voted Best Pet Store, a place has gotta have pizzazz! It needs spunk, it needs that certain something that really puts it over the edge, it needs (drum roll here) "Parrotphernalia." Yes, that's right. And when the grass-to-delectables transition is complete, pick up an Adirondack chair from the furniture section, take it home, relax, and enjoy the fruits of your labor by sipping on some homemade lemonade. Score an instant vegetable and herb garden from the mini potted starter plants. Increase your yard's cocktail-hour garnish potential by picking out a kumquat bush, a key lime shrub, or a lemon tree.
To do that, you've got to go to the right nursery, and Flamingo Road Nursery has got your back (yard, that is) with the best selection of snackable plants in town. Start making your yard work for you by turning it into a lush mingling spot for edible plants, fruit trees, and sweetly fragrant night bloomers. But the question you have to ask yourself is: "What kind of Eden do I want my yard to be?" And then, consider why you put so much work into maintaining grass you can't eat grass. And if the long drive west on Griffin Road is any indication, there's no shortage of businesses that want to sell those plants to you. For a place with sand instead of soil, South Florida's got some persistent native plants.
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