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# )