Billy Stritch Photo

From: Photo Flash: Jim Caruso's Cast Party at Birdland Celebrates 10th Anniversary and New Portrait for Host Jim Caruso

The event should have been titled '520 Mondays.' On Monday, July 1, Birdland celebrated the tenth anniversary of 'Jim Caruso's Cast Party,' the unique and very extreme weekly open mic. Gianni Valenti, the owner of the historic music room, honored host Caruso with a Seth Walters portrait on the wall, usually reserved for jazz icons. (Caruso quipped, 'Somewhere, Charlie Parker is very uncomfortable.')