The Ups & Downs of Show Biz

A huge part of living in Boquete is the community. People visit here and marvel at the close sense of friends and neighbors.

In large part, this strong, friendly community was developed by one man.

Ten years ago, he started an email list, called Noticias, that kept everyone informed about what was going on. We get 5 to 10 emails a day about what's happening.

And he started The Gringo Weekly Meeting where people, especially newly arrived people, could gather to meet other adventurous folks and hear informational speakers talking about living in a 3rd World Nation.

These two things coxed, urged, pushed, nurtured and generated a remarkable community.

Now he is going back to New Mexico.

A sad day...to lose someone who impacted our community in such a big way.

I wish him well.

The community he helped develop, includes Community Theater, an important part of his legacy. And he doesn't act or play music or appear in the shows in anyway, but his efforts are the foundation that allowed Community Theater to emerge.

I had a small part in the last show which was a spaghetti dinner and music review.

I try at all cost to avoid this type of show anymore. It is "Friends-and-Family-Entertain-Friends-and-Family".

The talent is poor but brave enough to get on stage in front of 60 people per show. The audiences love and support "their friends and family" which I am in favor of, I just don't want to be part of it anymore.

Somehow I get sucked into them, in spite of my efforts to avoid them.

This time, one of the music groups where I play guitar, put themselves in the show and didn't tell me. I found out about it a couple of weeks ago.

I could have simply refused to play but that seemed spiteful, so I reluctantly did it.

Now I was in it anyway and another lady needed guitar accompaniment, so I agreed to play for her too.

I had a total of 4 songs. And they were the best stuff in the show, not my opinion but the director's opinion. And not the best because of me but the best because the singers I was supporting were pros rather than "friends and family".

When you are in a show, even with fully rehearsed acts like the ones I was playing with, you lose an entire week because there is at least one tech rehearsal, at least one dress rehearsal and the 3 or more performances.

So the entire week is shot. If I wanted to be in the show, this is not a problem, but I didn't want to be in it.

Then, after the tech rehearsal, the show ran a full hour too long.

How in the hell does that happen? Who could anyone miss the timeline by 100%?

Now you can get a picture of the ineptness of these shows.

So 2 of my 4 songs got cut.

Now I have to go through all this brain damage for 4 minutes on stage.

Give me a break! In no way is this worth it.

To make matters worse, the "real" band I play in got booked for a private party after the matinee on Friday.

So Friday was the day and night from hell.

Show in the afternoon, race across town to set up for the private party and play 3 hours until 9 PM.

To add insult to injury, the private party didn't go well because the sound was sooooooo baaaaaaad. Playing in a concrete room is like playing in your shower.

I mention all of this because it indicates the process we have gone threw to get integrated in this foreign land.

Two years ago, we got in everything to meet people. We didn't care how bad it was, we were on a mission to get plugged into the community.

Now, we have assimilated here and don't need to participate in every show that comes down the pike.

It is harder than you think to stop being involved, Boquete is that compelling. There is a social glue that entices you into everything.

We are making headway though.

(If you would like to see pictures of the show, here is the link: https://picasaweb.google.com/markopanama/BCPSpagettiCabaret# )

A Really Cool Night

I've wanted to be a Rock Star from the first time I played air guitar in front of my mirror when I was 13.

Come on, admit it...you wanted to be one too. Maybe not in rock n' roll, but in some other arena.

I never admitted it to myself. I was a drummer most of my limited music career, with only a smattering of guitar. Hard to be a Rock Star playing drums though. Got to play lead guitar or sing to really be a Rock Star.

I started to re-learn how to play guitar last summer. I had played over the years but it was all slop and buzzing strings.

I found a great guitar lesson website. On this site, they have a couple of hundred rock songs, broken down in detail on how to play the guitar parts.

One of them was Santana's Oye Como Va.

I looked at the lessons and said to myself, "I can play that."

Now, that is a dangerous thing to think.

First, what it really means is, "If I work my ass off and learn a bunch of stuff I don't know and can't play, I HOPE I can play it."

So I started an eight month process of learning the song. It took that long.

I don't know what I was thinking! Really. Why did I think that I could play a guitar song written and played by one of the great masters of the rock guitar?

It was a mixture of hopefulness, desire and audacity.

But I got it done. Not perfect duplication but pretty close.

I didn't know how much people love Santana...and this song seems to be the one they associate with him the most.

We played this song last night at the close of our second set.

It was a wonderful night. Slightly warm, a hundred people inside the restaurant and another hundred or more milling around outside in the parking lot. This is an open air restaurant so everyone could hear and feel the music.

As we started the song with the signature organ on a simple yet compelling Latin rhythm, people responded by completely filling the dance floor, including all the spaces between the tables and everywhere else a person could fit. Almost everyone was up and dancing.

I had no idea how much people love this song.

After the organ start, comes the dominant cow bell and drums...the excitement notched up...then I started to play the first guitar lead melody...at rock volume with a slightly distorted sound...things were really cookin' now!

Nothing like a screaming rock n' roll guitar to get the blood boiling.

A quick sidebar...this is a small town. Most people here know that I am just starting to learn lead guitar. And they are very supportive. So that is in the mix of excitement too because this was the first REAL guitar lead that I have played and they were into it as my first...kindly supportive.

When we went into the first rhythmic break, we hit it perfect...all together...hard hitting. It was awesome! The excitement went up another notch.

This kept happening as we when through the different movements of the song.

By the end, everyone was facing the band, huge smiles on their faces, bobbing up and down, dancing in place.

When we ended, there was a big ovation. Took a couple of bows to get through the applause.

Now that was fun!

Disappointment

The learning curve in music, or many other things actually, is sooooo steeeeeppppp...

I have noticed a trend in learning new stuff in the performing arts. Could be memorizing lines for a play or learning a lead on guitar for a new song.

First, you learn it in your living room. You get it down cold, no problems, works every time, it is flat, comfortable, right there.

Then you take it to rehearsal. And, lo and behold, you can't do it. It all falls apart. Grrrrr!!!!!

What happened? You had it. Worked every time.

Now you've lost it and have to start all over in the rehearsal venue.

Finally, you have it at rehearsal...perfect, comfortable, unstoppable.

Then you perform it for an audience and, you guessed it, it falls apart and you wonder how can that happen?

Well, this is part of the learning curve for the performing arts.

I know this. I have watched it over the last 2 years time and time again.

Well, I have been working on a guitar lead for Linda Ronstadt's, Heat Wave.

I listened to a couple of live versions on You Tube but didn't like them. Then I went back to the original and really liked it.

Lucky me, I found a video of a guy playing it on You Tube. Whoohoo!!! This is the easiest way to learn a new lead.

So I worked for 3 days for several hours a day to figure out how to play it. Then I rehearsed it about 100 times. Then I transposed it to our key and rehearsed it about another 100 times. I rehearsed it so much that I wore a blister in my finger tip. Not good.

Then, I was off to rehearsal to wow them with my great lead, blister and all.

I know better. I know what happens when you go to rehearsal for the first time with a new lead. But I thought I could beat the system.

Of course, disaster struck. It didn't sound right. Like I was playing in the wrong key or something.

After getting pissed and throwing stuff around, we continued rehearsal. I always hate throwing a fit in public!

I knew I would have to go back to the drawing board and figure out what went wrong.

I was so disappointed. I wanted to fire this hot lead out of box.

Never happens!

Sure enough, when I returned home and figured it out, I was in the wrong key.

Now I have to learn the lead in yet another key. This always takes time.

Ah well, there is always another day!

Cattle Drive

I got up this morning and noticed this large yellow ball in the sky.

While shielding my eyes from the brilliance, I Wikipedia'd it and found out that it is called The Sun.

I like it.

I went for a hike at 9:30 and the sun was already obscured from the sky by clouds. No rain yet though. I did take an umbrella.

It was a gorgeous morning for a hike...cool, calm and luminescent green everywhere.

(Just a note about the green here: when you get 20 to 40 inches of rain each month for several months, things grow at a pace that is unimaginable and the green sparkles and comes in layers that seems to glow softly, kind of like a dim light emanation in the jungle that baths everthing.)

I walked about an hour out into the farm land and back, working up a good sweat.

As I was coming up our 600 meter long farm track to the house, my forward progress was impeded by a cattle drive.

Two wranglers and a dozen cattle and calfs were blocking the entire width of the track and impeding my forward progress.

I didn't mind because this road is steep and best hiked at a slow pace.

I watched and listened to the wrangler as he prodded the cattle on. He used a low, guttural voice, with words slurred together and grunts along with a lasso to swat their butts and, from time to time, he roped an errant calf with uncanny accuracy.

Needless to say, the neighborhood dogs were going nuts!

I think they secretly love the activity even though they look mad as hell.

This is a day of NO planned or scheduled activities. Whoopee!!!

I think I will watch the World Championship for women's soccer this afternoon. Or maybe I will bag that for a nap. Or maybe I will....

Who know?

Fog & Rain & Fog & Rain...

It's here...

A large weather system is on the Costa Rica Pacific coast which is giving us 2 days of rain and fog...day and night.

We rarely get weather systems down here. If we get one though, it sticks around forever! They don't move.

Strangely, I don't mind. It is cool and cosy. Perfect nap weather.

I took my car into the tire shop for 2 tire repairs.

One front tire had a slow, oh so slow, only fill the tire with air every 3 to 5 weeks, kind of slow leak.

Then I saw a big screw head sticking out of the other front tire. I didn't want to pull it out for fear of the tire going flat right there on the spot.

I went to my favorite tire shop owner by my neighbor Franklin. They spent an hour finding and fixing the first slow leak and discovering that the second tire didn't need anything because the screw went in at an angle and didn't create a leak.

This cost me $3.75.

Some stuff is so cheap here that it blows the mind!

I went back to the same shop for an oil change and fuel, oil and air filter change. I supplied the oil and they supplied the filters.

I learned how he makes his money.

His filter price was double what I could buy them for myself.

The next time, I'm buying them myself.

You have to live and learn down here.

It is still the Wild West in Panama.

Off to Bocas del Toro

A 3 hour car drive up over the continental divide to the Caribbean, and a half hour water taxi ride over to the island of Colon, and we are in another kind of paradise.

We are headed out in a few minutes.

This is one of the great pleasures of retirement and living in the Jungle. We can visit exotic places at the drop of a hat.

We had to delay our trip a day because we had trouble finding a house sitter.

In countries with poverty, theft is an issue. Our house is always occupied to prevent theft. And so our dogs are cared for.

There is a shortage of house sitters in Boquete. This would be a great way to support yourself if you are looking toward living in an exotic land.

We have also succumbed to another problem with retirement...we are TOO busy now.

Getting away for a couple of days is a hassle, from a planning stand point.

But, all is prepared and off we go!

We are bringing all our vegetables and produce because this stuff is expensive on the island. Everything is shipped in by boat and prices in Bocas have been going up for couple of years.

This is a bohemian backpacker type of town. Mucho tourists. Many loud, late night parties. That's why we are staying outside of town a couple of miles.

I love the energy of the place. It is young and fun.

We will try to slip in between the tourist and kids and fit in.

Hasta luego!

Talk to you next week.

Never Entertain a Thought before Coffee

I have a negative, worrying mind in the morning.

Always have, probably always will.

From getting ready to leave the house to the drive into town, I worry, ruminate, resent, get pissed, more worry, second guessing, get anxious and generally have a bad time.

Then I consume sweet, precious, transformational coffee at breakfast.

Positive, sunny, optimistic, happy, fun, outgoing, pleasant, loving thoughts and conversations.

New Rule: No acting on thoughts before coffee.

It just isn't worth it. No matter how potent the thought...actually the more potent the thought is, the more seductive...it should never, ever, not-in-a-million-years be acted on.

This morning I was full of second guessing thoughts.

I shouldn't have moved to Panama, who would leave a perfectly good country anyway, I miss the 4th of July, I miss (fill in the blank here) and on and on and on and on...

After coffee, I had great conversations with friends at Olga's, a wonderful work out at the gym with hilarious antics and a perfectly agreeable ride home plus a deep sense of appreciation for my new home in Panama.

Just goes to show you, it is the simple things that trip you up.

But the solution is simple too. Just don't pay any attention to those pesky thoughts before coffee.

What do you thing, am I addicted to the stuff or what?

Let the addiction flow!

It is so much better than an non-coffeed world.

We are off to a small 4th of July party at noon. Then maybe on to a restaurant with world class jazz or we could go to another restaurant and see really good rock and roll. Maybe some fireworks tonight.

Who knows?

Happy 4th of July to everyone at home!

Friday Night at The Bistro

It's been a long, long time since I was hit with a drink while playing music...more later.

In my band #2, we have 2 ladies who sing delightful harmony, a piano player and me on guitar. We play 50's & 60's music, mainly duets like the Everly Brothers.

Sing a long stuff...people love it. And they did last night too.

The Bistro has got to be the absolute worst place to play because the acoustics are terrible. Like playing in a metal drum.

We set up in the morning and did a sound check. All good. Not bad. I was shocked. They have remodeled and some of the sound problems have been fixed.

Or so I thought.

When I got home to rest up and change clothes, I told Yella. She said, "Don't get too excited...it still sucks...you will see."

We arrived a hour early and a few people were in the restaurant. It was LOUD. And only six people in the place.

Uh oh...

By the time it filled up, it was deafening...before we started playing music.

When we started, the crowd was louder than the band. Not good.

We go through the first set OK but frustrated. Then we turned up the PA a little for the second set and that effectively ruined the good sound we had in the first set...but it was louder...somewhat...the crowd was still louder than the band.

Between songs in the second set, I get hit with a plastic glass of fluid. Right on top of my guitar, over the electronics.

I look up to the balcony and see my wife and our friend laughing their asses off. I explode and scream obscenities at them...the kind that would make a drunken sailor on leave proud.

I have nothing to wipe down my guitar, so I use my hands, getting them sticky. Very difficult to play guitar with stickum on your hands.

I was furious. And that kind of destroyed the rest of the night for me. I couldn't shake the anger.

As I was playing, I am now mad at myself for still being pissed. That created a downward spiral of anger.

Too bad. It was a night to celebrate a job well done. And I couldn't. After the gig, I left in a pout, refusing my free meal, and went home and climbed into bed.

As it turned out, Yella had been throwing drink stir sticks at me and I didn't notice. She escalated to a plastic glass. She turned it over to make sure there was no fluid in it, but fluid adheres to plastic so there was enough left in the glass to make a mess on my guitar and shirt.

I don't think she will be doing that again. She was extremely apologetic for sure.

For a moment there, I flashed back to the drunken bars we played in during the 70's, where we did get hit with a drink from time to time.

I think we are regressing here.

It took me until about noon today to get over my anger hangover.

Thank God it's over. I am now doing nothing and reading a book, listening to the rain.

Ahhhhh.

Playing music takes it out of me. Am I getting old?

Don't answer.