Great Night!

Well, for once, the anticipation equaled the actuality.

Last night playing music at the Oasis was wonderful. Full house, appreciative crowd, Party, Party, Party.

It was a little tense before we started. Not only did we have to set up our equipment, but we also had to wire in their new house system. That was the hard part, their system.

Setting up a band is unbelievably complex. Just the key board and PA takes 17 cables. Plus a monitor PA, drums, guitar amp connected to the PA's and on and on.

Then add to that a brand new, never been de-bugged house system. Damn! It all got done but it was tense.

Our first set went perfect. Second set came apart at the seams and the third set was pretty good.

All in all, a great night.

It always shocks me how much better organic, live playing sounds vs. computer aided music. No comparison.

The other thing that always gets me, is how much can go wrong with electronic equipment, especially keyboards. During the second set, the keyboard started to only put out about half of the sound it was producing a moment ago.

Why?

We must have pissed off the gods of the keyboard. Never did figure it out. It just started working again.

After ten minutes of pell mell trying to figure it out.

That kind of disruption leaves musicians in a funk and playing below their talent for a few songs.

The place was so crowded that some meals were 3 hours late! Including the bands food.

Boy, I was hungry after we played when our food finally arrived!

It was a wonderful night in spite of all the breakdowns.

Ode to Our Colorado Dream House

One day, late in 1998, we noticed that our kids were gone and out of the house...on their own now.

Yippee!

Now, don't go all postal on me. We love our kids and have absolutely no regrets about having them.

And, it sure is nice to have our lives back. More money, more time, the ability to travel at will.

And, time to get our dream house in the mountains of Colorado.

So, we spent 3 months looking for a house. No luck. If we liked it, it was too expensive. Most of the houses were not geared for a couple. Most houses were family houses...too big.

We found a vacant lot in the mountains in an incredible community and built a house.

Nothing ostentatious. Small, compact with huge windows for a spectacular view of the mountains.

Ten years later, we decided to move to Panama...and sell everything.

The economy was so bad in late 2008 that we couldn't sell our house.

We rented it. What a bitch! I hate having rental property. I have had a few and I don't like it. I like it even less when it was our dream house.

The renter left in late April.

This turned out to be a blessing in disguise.

We researched the market and decided to sell.

We got the world's best Realtor, priced it right, and it went under contract in 10 days.

Thursday it closed...sold.

I am feeling a little melancholy about it.

It was our dream house, after all.

It is a huge relief to be out from under all the worry and financial problems associated with renting it.

But...it was our dream house.

I'm having some trouble letting it go...

Anticipatiion

I can't wait...playing tonight at The Oasis...sold out in 3 days...standing room only for drinks, no more dinners...so many people asking to come for the music after they sold out...should be mayhem tonight!

We now have a drummer worked in and I am 90% comfortable with the material.

Before the drummer and I joined, Yella and Rich were playing "one man band" music.

This is a particular music developed for the bar industry over the last 30 years.

Previously, music was played by bands...before the computerized keyboard.

Squashed by the influence of Disco and budget constraints, bars went to the ubiquitous "one man band."

This music was shaped and molded by the industry to be a washed out, wall-of-sound, calliope sweet, milk toast sound.

Worked for dancing but not listening. Worked for bars but not concerts.

Working musicians had no choice about the sound. If they wanted to work, they had to do the "one man band" thing with that specific sound.

When I originally tried to play with Rich, there was no room in the music for another instrument. Every possible part was already being played by the computer.

So I told him he needed a lead guitar player and I am not that, so I didn't play with them for months.

I started to learn how to play lead guitar and he started to thin out his computer parts, so I joined the band and things continued to change to a more organic sound.

And we worked in a drummer to replace the drum machine.

So much better.

Now we have NO computer generated music at all!

Yay! I sounds so much better.

We're trying it out for the first time to a live audience tonight...to a sold out, standing room only house.

Wow, can't wait!

Ya, ya...I know about anticipation. It could be a disaster tonight. Could be great. That is the thing about anticipation. It has nothing to do with what will happen.

But as I get older, I enjoy the anticipation.

I'll let you know how it went tomorrow.

When It Rains, It Pours

Flat tires. I'm against them.

You may recall all the trouble I had with changing flats when we first moved here. It took me 6 months to get everything I needed for my 4Runner.

The lug nut wrench didn't fit, the jack wan't big enough, the rod to wind down the spare tire didn't fit, no allen wrench to remove the hubcap.

Now mind you, when I bought the car, I checked to see if I had the wrench, jack, rod and all, and it was all there. It just was not the right stuff. This is a very Panamanian trick...make it look good but nothing works.

After many visits to the hardware store, the machine shop and a struggle to find a place to repair flat...I finally had it down after 6 months.

So fast forward to present day.

Yella called me yesterday and said she had a flat.

So, freshly showered, I head out for the incredible dirty job of changing a flat. There goes a perfectly good shower.

I had all the right tools and the spare had air in it.

Wonderful! After a short 30 minutes of dirt and grime, the tire was changed.

On the first try. Will wonders never cease!

This morning I get a call from Yella saying she has another flat.

Damn! How does this happen?

Well, the spare went flat.

Now I was 30 minutes away, at an office for an all day, work session on my new business.

Back to the house, pick up the flat tire, take it into town to be repaired, back to the house, change the repaired tire, back to the office to work.

3 and half hours. Grrr!!!!

This country has a built in bias to not get things done.

Got home at 4:00 and practiced guitar for 90 minutes. Then get ready to go out.

This evening, we had dinner with some friends we haven't seen for a year. Great company, many laughs, wonderful dinner.

But I was beat.

I started at 7:30 this morning and went all day, through lunch, changing tires, working on drafting a report, practicing guitar, then immediately out to dinner with friends.

I'm beat.

This has become the norm. I have put in similar long days for the last month. And I am exhausted at the end of the day.

Kind of feels normal...to my pre-retirement days.

I don't know if this is a good thing or not.

Hmm???

I had been successful on going native...I'm starting to loose it.

Saturday Night at the Theater

The Chiriqui Players presented "Benchwarmers" this week.

I wouldn't have given a wooden nickel for this being any good.

Benchwarmers is a theater style where a series of short one act plays are presented. The only stage set is a park bench.

Local authors submitted original scripts, a couple of my friends reviewed them and selected the best. In addition, a David Mamet One Act was presented.

Each of the 6 one acts was directed by a different local person(s).

You can see why I was not anticipating the best.

Too many local hacks doing scripts, too many first time directors and an actor pool that had the directors combing, begging, pleading and bludgeoning folks into acting. They asked me no less than four times to take a part but I don't have any time now.

The artistic director, Jim Hatch, time and time again, has elicited extraordinary performances from first time actors and veterans.

But this time, he wasn't directing.

As usual, I shot off my mouth about how bad this thing was going to be...I didn't want to go...I only went when they offered a 4 ticket pack at a substantial discount.

Part of the fun was seeing all my friends at the theater. Everyone came out for Saturday night. What fun milling around before the show and during intermission. That's a good enough reason to go anyway.

It was a big cast with 15 actors. 7 directors. Hmm??? Too many people for quality.

Well, I was surprised. It was a hoot. Much comedy. Some pithy moments. Some touching scenes.

Definitely not one of Jim Hatch's out-of-the-park plays that he seems to do EVERY time he directs. This guy is amazing!

But a respectable night at the theater.

And, so much fun hanging out with friends.

Plus, the audiences here are the best. They laugh and hoot and holler at damn near anything.

With a full house, that's a lot of energy to spice up the evening!

The Joy of Music

This one's going to be hard to capture...

I subscribe to a website that teaches me how to play guitar, more specifically, the site includes detailed lessons on how to play select songs.

This is a goldmine for budding guitarists like me.

In the 70's, when Yella and I were on the road playing music, we played one of the rock anthems from the early 70's, the Eagles "Already Gone." Granted, at the time we played it at a minimum level of skill. Even so, it was popular with our audiences and the band loved to play it.

Over the years, it has remained one of my favorite songs, that I listen to regularly.

I found this song on my website. Holy shit! I have wanted to really learn how to play it for since the 70's!

I have been holding off for a week from looking at it because I had other things to do and learn on guitar. The delay made it even better.

Today I looked at it.

The lessons are 10 segments long, each segment 7 to 10 minutes. So it is a slug of information to wade through.

As I started, it was impressive. My mindset was in the work mode of simply learning it. And it was stretching my abilities to the max.

But the simplest things were just right...the rhythm guitar work was so perfect...open chord ringing guitar...pent up expectation and energy...waiting to explode out of the song...was all present...but still I was in work mode, trying to learn it.

As I progressed through the series, into the first lead guitar stuff, and the second lead guitar stuff, and the third lead guitar stuff and the FOURTH lead guitar stuff, I lost my sense of detachment and became enthralled with the beauty and skill of the music.

Now I was watching without learning. Thrilled to see how master musicians craft a song. And did they craft this one.

I'm not going to get technical because it would bore you, unless you are a musician, of course.

But my reaction to it was beyond enjoyment and fun, into that strange land of awe and inspiration, being moved, catapulted into some kind of different dimension of reality.

What a gift!

I love it!

Work!

I'm not used to work anymore.

I've gone native.

I don't think I like it anymore...I used to love working.

I'm working on a project in Colombia with a friend who is a financial guy.

This alone baffles me. I've never understood the world of finance even though I know that real money is made in the financial end of business and life.

I am getting an education.

So, I sit in front of my computer, trying to write a report about something where I know nothing, stitching together pieces of information I unearth from various sources.

After a couple of hours of work, I email the report-in-progress to my friend who then let's me know that more work is needed...now.

Hopefully, I will get a trip to Colombia out of this thing. There are extremely positive reports about Colombia now.

It wasn't always this way, of course.

This is an international business. We talk to people on Skype (What an amazing Internet thing this is!) from all over the world.

We were talking to a guy from South Africa. Every other work was "brilliant!" I haven't heard that one except on TV commercials.

We also talk to a wild man in Colombia who is from Canada, has worked in Latin America for 30 years, who is completely untethered and unpredictable but knows his stuff.

What fun! Getting to know all these characters.

I love this end of the world.

"Normal" people don't come down here.

Very interesting, indeed!

Charmed By The Pizza Nazi

I have introduced you to Papa Ricco, the Pizza Nazi, in earlier blogs.

Ricco is from New York, the guttural side of New York. He knows and uses more profanity than, well, even me.

He is particularly fond of berating, swearing at and ousting patrons who break his VERY specific rules.

Only what's on the menu...

Exactly as it is on the menu...

No changes, substitutions, extras...

And, the cardinal rule of all rules, NO SALAD.

Why eat at his restaurant? It is the best Italian food I've ever eaten, that's why.

And, if you get to know him, and obey the rules, everything is OK.

He is 70 years old. He gets to the restaurant every morning at 6 AM to start making fresh Italian sausage each day from a pork roast. He does this by himself, alone...every day. The restaurant opens at noon. He is helped by a rotating array of women who stay only short periods of time because he has a temper problem.

All his food is fresh, cooked only by him.

Today, while I was getting fuel at 9 AM, he runs out of his restaurant next door to the filling station, and asks me if I want any Italian sausage. I tell him no, I am going out to eat tonight but tomorrow I will stop by.

That makes him happy.

You see, he doesn't run out to talk to people because he is pushing food and building business. He does it because he knows what you like and he loves to feed you with what you enjoy.

No hawking. This he does as a service.

Remember, he is 70 years old and he has been cooking Italian food for 50 years.

He still loves it and takes great pride in it. The real pride of a craftsman, not arrogance.

This is the part I like best.

After every time you eat at his place, he asks you if you like it. And he waits expectantly, leaning forward on his feet in anticipation of your answer.

When I say I love his food, it is the best I've ever eaten, he gets a little shy, looks down, then up at you from under his eyebrows, with a little smile, he says thank you...like it is the first time he has ever heard this complimented.

He knows how to ask for a compliment and more important, how to receive it.

That charms me every time.

Who would think that such a rough and tumble guy would have such a tender heart.

Latin Bureaucracy

If you want a great, entertaining experience of The Latin Snail Bureaucracy System, watch the video at this link.

http://www.boqueteguide.com/?p=6442

The video depicts what seems like an exaggeration...but it is NOT!

A "What Am I Doing in Panama" Day

I haven't had one of those in a long time.

I woke up missing Colorado. Missing having a job and a firm to manage. Missing all the things in life that I know well. Missing the "norm" of a country that I know A to Z. Missing my old friends which were sustained over decades.

For no reason...

Maybe it was the rough rehearsal on Wednesday morning. We were too loud, and I hate that. And tempers were a little raw. I couldn't find the harmony part on a song...I really hate that!

But, on the other hand, I blew the band away with a slow blues lead on a song...I surprised myself to boot. So not all was bad.

Maybe it is the closing on our Colorado dream house in less than 2 weeks. This is our last material tie to the old life in CO. I really want to sell it but...it was our dream house after the kids moved.

Or maybe it is just the yin and yang of life.

Am I getting too philosophical for you?

Anyway, I was over it this morning.

I am busy, busy, busy now.

With 4 rehearsals a week plus all the practice I have to do just to attempt to keep up, starting to put together a business in Colombia and then squeezing in a day at the beach...whew!!!

I know, it is hard to have any sympathy for me...living in paradise and going to beach and all.

Secretly, I like it.

I have always preferred busy over inactivity. And with me going native down here, it doesn't take much to overwhelm me.

I met "me" a Olga's this morning. She was from Minnesota, Type "A", G-E-T-T-I-N-G T-H-I-N-G-S D-O-N--E!!! She had a mission--figuring out how to move her family down here. She was FOCUSED, leaning forward as she walked, with a wake of disturbed air churning behind her. Waves of frenetic energy radiating out from her epicenter.

I couldn't wait to get away. And I was sympathetic too.

This is the water we swim in for the US. It is why we accomplished so much in the US.

Too bad we forgot about some very important stuff...(you fill in the blank here.)

Time to get back to paradise. A good book, a nap, dinner out with friends. I will work on the Colombian business manana.